Chasing Perfection
by carlasalvatore
Summary: Alexandra Gilbert is living a normal life with her family, until the day when she starts learning about the burried secrets of Mystic Falls. And as the danger in town unfolds, falling in love with a certain vampire should be the least she should worry. Eventual OC/Damon. Jeremy's twin fic.
1. Chapter 1: Pilot

**_"_CHASING PERFECTION_"_  
**The Vampire Diaries Fanfiction

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**Chasing Perfection **is a Vampire Diaries fanfiction which takes place on season one and will follow through each episodes while including an original character Alexandra Gilbert, Jeremy's twin sister. But don't worry, there will be slight differences and add-ins from the show. However, despite focusing on Alex and her slowly building relationship with Damon Salvatore, there will be a lot of characters to show up as story starts progressing, I'm planning to write this until season five, depends on how people like the story and want me to continue to the fifth season later!

**P.S**, I envision my original characters (Both Alexandra and Serena/Serene) as Crystal Reed. I think she perfectly suits the role. Anyway, this story was originally posted on 2013 but I've decided to rewrite and repost it under a different title!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own The Vampire Diaries nor all the characters involved, only my original characters and anything you don't recognize!

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**Chasing Perfection**  
Season 1  
**Chapter 1**: Pilot

* * *

It was an early morning on monday when summer has sadly and officially ended. Alex slowly woke up because of a bright light that went in through the windows. There was a familiar figure standing next to her bed, it was no other than her older sister. Still sleepy, she decided to go back to sleep and let out a quiet yawn. "Hey, Alex, wake up. Time for school." Elena whispered while shaking her shoulders to distract her from going back to sleep.

Alex mumbled quietly while trying to stop her sister from keep waking her up because her body was very desperate for more rest. She groaned and burried her head underneath the cover avoiding her sister from shaking her shoulders again. It was as if she had a sleepless night, and this was way too early to wake up with such conditions. Elena sighed while once again shaking her shoulders to wake her up, "Alex, come on, we are going back to school. You know you don't wanna be late for school, aren't you?"

Seemed like her sister won this time. Alex finally gave in and stiffly sat up on the bed, squeezing her eyes as she saw her sister smiling. She couldn't help but to mirror the smile while slowly moving on from the bed to tie her hair in front of the mirror where she saw herself. "Summer ended so fast," she let out a deep frustrated sigh while looking for her outfits in her wardrobe.

"Yep, but... Let's move on," Elena paused herself for a few seconds, "You know. Bad things happened during our summer but I think we should really get over it, 'Lex. It's a new day."

"Yeah, I know." Alex said, starting to fade all the worry and all the pain she felt because as what her sister said, they had to move on, though she knew it was going to be difficult. Not a simply difficult, but quite difficult, especially when it came to her parents. Knowing her sister has left, she made a way to the bathroom quickly before time ran faster and she will be late.

A few minutes later, Alex walked downstairs heading to the kitchen accompanied by her sister, seeing Jenna was busy in the kitchen. After their parents' death, she has been the only one person they could count on, she was always the person who was willing to be busy just for them three. "Oh, hey there girls. Enjoy your coffees," their aunt, Jenna, automatically turned around as soon as she noticed their nieces were all there in the kitchen. Somewhat she was looking for someone else to be there. "Where is your brother?"

Both sisters exchanged glances before noticing Jeremy was walking past them reluctantly, as if he'd lose his energy for the whole night, worse than his twin whenever she was waking up. "Well, the boy is here," Alex tilted her head giving gesture at her twin brother who was rolling his eyes more in a sarcastic way, but then she replied with same gestures. Her feet moved toward the table while her hand started grabbing one of the served mugs on it. "Nice manner you have, twinnie, is that walking past your sisters like nobody was standing here becomes the best way for you to start the day?"

"Good morning too, kiddo," Jeremy greeted with a weird and creepy grin which was enough making her quite irritated. He hugged her for only two seconds and grabbed her mug and drank the whole contents. "This coffee tastes nice."

"Well, excuse you, Jeremy Gilbert!" Alex glared at her brother but what she received was only a light shrug and bitter smile from her brother and it totally got her on her nerves. "This is how you treat your twin sister?"

Jeremy rolled his eyes again, taking his bag and put it over his shoulder, ready to leave for school before he received more flames from his twin sister. "I'm going to school right now," he said defending himself from the topic, his feet begun walking over Alex carefully. As soon as he was there, he gave her a tight hug and ruffled her hair, finally spoke halfassly and walked away to the door. "See you."

"Hey, you gonna be okay, aren't you?" Elena whispered and grabbed his arm knowing that he has been avoiding her the most all these time. No, actually only after their parents' death. Jeremy stopped for a few seconds and turned around only to spoke "don't start," and left the house quickly.

"He'll be alright, 'Lena. Don't worry," Alex convinced her sister while looking at her, feeling sorry for her and tried to think of something, a way, to make her sister feel better. She knew this family was no longer functional after their parents' death but she always tried to make it better, she always did. Elena and their aunt knew that.

"I don't know, he hates me." Elena looked back slightly with a quiet frustrated sigh, grabbing her mug and drank the content while waiting for an answer from her sister.

Jenna turned to her nieces, wondering if they will be alright with all these new life without their parents. She noticed that her nephew was kinda troubled lately, unlike his twin sister who was still sitting here and tried to comfort her older sister to fix everything. "No, it didn't seem like he hate you though I'm kinda sure he was annoyed that you don't like Matt's sister. You know, all that stuff."

"Hello, Alex! Isn't it you who don't like her?" Elena glared at her sister, her face twisted between anger and irritation of hearing Alex not defending her in the case. She was kinda feeling hurt, disillusioned, disappointed.

"At least I respect his decision. My brother's decision. And what about you? You used to date her brother and he didn't mind. Now you don't let him close to your ex's sister?" Alex was definitely defending her brother right now, her voice was stern, her gaze looked different. She took a deep breathe and felt a twinge of guilt inside her heart a few second later after realizing she was being mad at her sister. And now she had her head on her palm as she grabbed a fistful of her hair, frustratedly. "I'm sorry, I'm becoming emotional again, I'm really sorry, Elena."

Elena let out a deep breathe, understanding that her sister was still a little bit troubled about whatever happened, just like her twin, but she was showing it in a different way. Not long after their little debate, they heard car's horn outside their house which they recognize. "I think that's Bonnie, come on." Elena said while finishing her coffee together with Alex before they hugged their aunts.

"Gotta go, bye Aunt Jenna." Alex said slinging her bag on her shoulder and grabbed two bottles of freshwater and gave one to her sister.

In the car, the sisters once again waved at Jenna before leaving together with their bestfriend before she drove down the road—heading to their school immediately. Elena was sitting on the front seat next to her friend while Alex sat on the back, leaning on the window glass and looked at the road through it. "Elena," she called out softly. "Sorry,"

"Don't bring this again." Elena turned back and smiled to her sister as if she had forgot the whole conversations they had this morning.  
Alex smiled respoding to her sister. "Alright,"

"Something happen again between you two?" Bonnie slightly glanced at both sisters, half-smiling, but still busy driving her car.

"Nope," the youngest sister answered awkwardly, giving the best fake smile she could give. "Just a little debate. Family matters, you know."

Suddenly, their conversations were cut off when a black crow hit the car and caused Bonnie to hit the brakes as the tires screeched loudly, and she stopped the car at the edge of the street. The three of them were breathing heavily due to being shocked. "Are you okay?" Bonnie asked, a little bit panic as well about what just happened.

"Yeah, how about you?" Elena swap the question back to her bestfriend and looked at Alex. "And you, Alex, you alright?"

"Totally." "Yeah." Both younger sister and the bestfriend said together at the same time, somewhat it amused Elena quite enough to hear them, they were cute eventhough Bonnie was a year older than Alex.

"Well... What the hell was that?" Alex gulped and almost freaked out for the moment—it was like her heart was no longer beating regularly anymore. Her eyes completely filled with shock.

"I think that's a bird. It came out of nowhere, didn't see that coming." Bonnie informed, trying to calm them down most especially the little Gilbert who was troubled with her shocked feeling most of time. She breathed out once again, leaning her head onto the small pillow on the seat and restarted the engine to immediately drove them all to school. "We should really go back to the road before it's late."

* * *

Alex got out of the car, grabbing her bag while sliding it on her shoulder as she linked her arms with her older sister before walking into the school building together with their bestfriend who drove them here. They smiled, it was actually good to be back to school after a long summer break because there will be loads of gossips, parties and events that were waiting and that was the part that Alex actually loved about school.

When the two were walking down the hall, an athletic guy came behind them and covered both of Alex's eyes with his hands. Elena turned around and was about to inform her sister about the guy, but he mouthed her not to tell Alex since he wanted to give her a surprise. "Who is this?" Alex asked while rubbing his hands, and she could only hear her sister's playful giggle. "Tyler?" She guessed.

He finally let his hands away from her face, laughing softly at his girlfriend before cupping her face while rubbing it and led his lips onto hers. "I've missed you," he spoke softly after the kiss. Elena only smiled and backed off with Bonnie. "I will be with Bonnie. See you guys,"

"Okay, see you, 'Lena!" Alex literally half-shouting as she saw them waving their hands at her. She managed to wave back and continue walking with her boyfriend Tyler along the hallway and went somewhere.

Bonnie was still smiling. "They are like the cuties I usually see in movies," she commented, accompanied with a light chuckle. "They look cute together."

"They are," Elena giggled while still walking along the hallway until they reached their lockers where she saw someone she knew for a long time, her ex-boyfriend—Matt—and she waved at him. Too bad he ignored her, showing his hurt feeling in his eyes before shutting the locker and walked away. "He hates me." She groaned, turning back around, avoiding finding him anymore after he left a while ago.

"That's not hate. That's 'you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits.'" Bonnie contradicted her, saving her from feeling guilty and everything else. Behind them, they heard their familiar bestfriend's voice. Caroline. She looked beautiful with a wide grin, blonde straight short hair, natural but pretty make up and modern blue blouse that completed her perfect appearance.

"Elena! Oh my god." She literally exclaimed while coming closer to pull her bestfriend, Elena, into a hug. "How are you? Oh, it's good to see you." She let go of her and then turned to Bonnie. "How is she? Is she good?"

Elena looked at her bestfriend, and said. "Caroline. I'm right here. And I'm fine. Thank you."

"Really?" Caroline frowned slightly, "How about Alex?"

"Yes. Much better," Elena replied, "And she is fine too. Thank you again, Caroline."

"Oh, you poor thing." Caroline pulled her in for another hug to give some supports for her, between knowing and didn't know that she was acting about being fine. "Well gotta go, see you guys later?"

Both Elena and Bonnie nodded with a bitter smile plastered on their faces. "Yeah. See you."

The two bestfriends eventually continued walking together pass by the administration office only to see someone was signing up. "Whoa, who's this guy..." Bonnie wondered as her eyebrows rose, watching him from the back. Elena followed the gaze into the room, seeing the back of a tall, dashing and masculine guy standing near the administration table. "He is hot, isn't he?" She added without looking at her bestfriend yet while Elena's attention suddenly turned to her brother who was sneaking into the bathroom like he was hiding something.

"I'll be right back."She said, between aghast and anger, while walking into the male bathroom to get to her brother. That was extreme, but she couldn't just let him be.

"Please be hot," Bonnie chanted, still looking at the back of the guy in the office.

Several guys were surprised to see Elena entering the male bathroom instead of the female one, but she ignored them all and immediately caught Jeremy using eye drops. She held his face—pinching his cheeks together in one hand—and looked directly into his eyes. "What have you done?" She asked protectively while still scanning his eyes to see if he was high. "Great. It's the first day of school and you're already stoned!"

"No, I'm not. I have done nothing!" Jeremy denied, staring at his sister weirdly, trying to push her from him but no intention of harm.

"Where is it? Jer, tell me! Is it on you?" She kept keep asking questions, looking at him in a way he didn't like, patting him down.

"Stop, all right?! You need to chill yourself, all right?" Jeremy yelled sarcastically, this was the reason they didn't get along like he and his twin sister. She was protective and it was over the line. And he didn't like it.

"Chill myself? What is that, stoner talk? Dude, you are so cool." With full disgust, she hissed while patting him down once again, making him more upset. "Stop it! I don't have anything on me, okay? I'm good! Are you crazy?"

"Good what? I gave you summer pass, but I'm done watching you destroy yourself. No, no, no, you know what? Go ahead, keep it up. But just know that I'm going to be there to ruin your buzz everytime, you got it?"

Jeremy was still watching how his sister talked, it was kinda annoying but he knew she was doing something she thought was right. He rolled his eyes, trying to escape but she was still blocking his way. She was still worried about him doing something bad or even worse. "Jeremy, I know who you are. And it's not this person, so don't be that person. And listen... if I know you're doing something real bad, I will make sure to give your twin a chance to watch over you and that's it."

With that, she released her hands off his cheeks and glared at her brother like he was going to die within seconds in her arms. That didn't bother him yet, he growled angrily while making his way leaving the bathroom. "I don't need these, I'm okay, I told you."

She sighed, rubbing her arms, and began to leave the male bathroom as well but unfortunately was bumping onto this guy she saw inside the administrator office. "Whoa," she said in aghast before he could talk anything. She was literally having red blushes on her cheeks.

"Uh, pardon me. Is this the men's room?" The guy asked with a charming friendly smile while staring into her eyes and he thought she looked exactly like someone he knew in the past but somehow different at the same time, yet he didn't regret coming here.

"Yeah, uh, I was just, um, it's a long story." She nervously replied, hanging on every words while smiling back toward the guy—unfortunately she had to go. When she was going to shove past him, she failed as he went that way, undirectly blocking her way. Understanding she needed to leave, he made a way for her before she left with one last glance for him. "Thanks,"

"Let's see who is moving on," Alex suddenly came out of nowhere with a smirk plastering her lips, teasing her older sister. "So, a new guy, huh? Nice."

"Shut up Alex," Elena hushed. "We only bumped on each other and apologize."

"Just kidding!" She replied with an amused grin, holding a few books in her arms while heading to their classes together before stopping in front of a door. "I gotta go, class here. Bye El, love you."

"Love you too, Al,"

* * *

**Local Cemetery**

* * *

Elena walked to see her parents graves while holding four pieces of flowers. Her gaze turned to their grave stones where her parents' name were written on it, and suddenly, she felt the hole inside her heart again. Feeling the great loss of her parents. She smiled, but it wasn't happy, it was a sad and bitter one knowing that they were gone from her, her sister's, and her brother's life forever. She placed two flowers on each graves of their parents before sitting nearby and wrote on her diary.

After writting on her diary book, she saw a crow was hanging on her grandparents grave stones and fog started to ascend around the cemetery. She stood up, looking around and suddenly saw a figure was standing behind a tomb when she started to ran until she tripped and fell, her leg was injured and when she got up, she saw the new guy was standing in front of her.

"You okay?" He asked while tilting his head slightly. Her face turned into a happy expression or blush; when she saw the new guy. "Were you following me?" She asked, breathless.

"No. I, uh, I just... I saw you fall." He stuttered, still looking at Elena. "Uh-huh, and you just happened to be hanging out in a cemetery." Elena stated suspiciously about his statement.

"Well, I'm visiting, I have a family here." He informed her with a gentle voice tone.

"Woah. Uh... I'm sorry." She gulped before she continued talking again, "It's the fog, it was creepy and there was this... this bird, and it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the bird movie, right, the Hitchcock?"

There was a long pause, the moment where her eyes locked with his, but she broke the silence with an introduction of herself, being slightly nervous when her eyes met his. "I'm Elena." She introduced with a shy smile.

"I'm Stefan." He countered with a small chuckle, his hand was lifted up to her hair, pulling out a leaf out of Elena's hair. Her eyes flickered to his fingers where a big silver and blue ring with an S in the middle was wore on his finger. "Thanks... Uh, nice ring." She said smiling.

"Oh. Um, it's a family ring. I'm kinda stuck with it. It's weird, huh?" Stefan chuckled while rubbing his ring.

"No, no. It's just, I mean, there are rings and then there's that." She explained tersely as he decided to ask something to change the subjects.

"Did you hurt yourself?"

"Hmm?" She asked confusedly.

"Did you hurt yourself?"

"Oh. I don't know. Uh," she rolled up her jeans and found a wound with blood pouring out when Stefan turned around as his face started to change. No, he can't be like this in front of her—it's a secret he needed to keep from everyone including this girl though she may looked like someone in the past. "Oh god. That is not pretty." She said but was confused looking at Stefan turning around in a sudden. "Um, are you okay?" She asked. His eyes started to change, he was still trying to calm himself down and resist his blood craving at the moment and breathed. "You should go, and take care of that."

She looked at her leg again and then she looked up only to notice Stefan wasn't there any longer. "Really, it's noth—"  
"Stefan?" She called out but no answer. Knowing that he left, she sighed and decided to go home and healed her wound.

Arriving home, she was welcomed by her aunt with questions about her leg that was wounded. She immediately grabbed a bowl of hot water and a piece of cloth. "What happened with your leg, Elena?"

"I tripped and fell. Where is Alex?"

"I thought you're going to the grill with her," Jenna looked at her niece and down to her leg, seeing the wound on it, and immediately dipping the cloth into the bowl of water, rubbing it onto her wounded leg.

"She is at the grill?" Elena winced when the cloth touched her leg. "And no, I wasn't with anybody... only at the cemetery. I think I should see Alex."

"You're wounded." Jenna reminded gesturing to her wounded leg.

"It's okay, Aunt Jenna. I just want to check on her. Please?"

"Alright, does it feel better?" Jenna asked calmly while tidying the stuffs. Her eyes wasn't looking at her niece yet when she replied. "Yes, it's—"

Elena was cut off when she heard the door was knocked a couple of times. Hearing this, Jenna immediately drop the bowl on the table and checked who was coming. "I'll go check on it, you stay here." She declared, opening the door only to see a young male was standing in front of her, with the charming smile. It was Stefan. "Excuse me, is Elena Gilbert here?"

Jenna made no reply but smirking and immediately called out her niece to come over. "Elena," with that she stood up on her own, slowly but sure, approaching her aunt and stood right next to her side. "What─?

"Sorry, I wanted to apologise for my disappearing act earlier. I know it was... strange." He explained calmly, receiving a shy smile again from her as soon as Jenna left the two alone in their own world. "No worries. I get it, blood makes you squeamish."

"Um, something like that. How's your leg?" He gestured to her leg that was injured a while ago.

"It's fine. Just a scratch, barely. How did you know where I lived?" She asked suspicious, narrowing her eyes at him.

"It's a small town. I asked the first person I saw. Um, I thought you might want this back." He said, handing Elena her diary.

"Oh, I must have dropped it. Thank you." She smiled shyly while brushing a piece of her hair behind her ear. He could read that she was also worried if he read the contents of her diary, although she didn't really show the expression toward him.

"Don't worry, I didn't...read it." Stefan assured with a smile back.

"No? Why not? Most people would have." Elena asked with a teasing grin, trying to broke the awkward thing between them two. Stefan looked down to his toe, "Well, I wouldn't want anyone to read mine."

"You keep a journal?" She asked another question with a flat expression waiting for him to respond. "Yeah, if I don't write it down, I forget it. Memories are too important."

"Yeah. I'm just gonna...umm, you don't have to stay out there." Elena told him while running upstairs to her room sharply as Stefan was scanning the door, somewhat he couldn't enter the house. "I'm fine. Sorry, were you going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm going to check on my sister and probably meeting some friends. Do you wanna come?"

Both of their eyes met and locked again, her brown eyes were staring at his very carefully and unknowingly, a smile rose on both of their lips. It was almost too perfect. "Sure." Stefan let out a chuckle as she smiled. "Okay."

* * *

**Mystic Grill**

* * *

Alex leaned back on a chair at the grill, beside her there was her boyfriend and around her were her friends, they were all discussing random topics that came out from ther minds that time. At the same time, she captured someone suspicious wearing black shirt entered the grill and walked to the bar table making her curious. "Alex?" Tyler called, making sure that she was actually fine because he was aware that she didn't pay attention to the conversation anymore. "Uh, yeah, sorry." Alex gulped looking at him, aghast, worried.

"How's Elena doing?" Matt questioned, his face was twisted in hope but his voice sounded like he was worried, but at the same time she understood how her sister needed time to move on.

"Her mom and dad died. How do you think? She's putting on a good face, but it's only been four months." Bonnie replied and this time turned her face to see Alex who was frozen for a few seconds.

"Oh, guys, come on. Not this conversation again." Tyler rolled his eyes while comforting his girlfriend, rubbing her back gently, eventually gave a kiss on her head. Alex responded smiling shyly and looked up at him.

"Okay, I'm sorry, but has she said anything about me?" This time Matt asked the sister with a hopeful look.

"Oh, no. I'm so not getting in the middle. You pick up the phone and call her." Alex replied simply holding her hands up while shaking her head, trying to convince him to call her sister instead of keep asking about her to any of her friends but ignored her whenever she was around.

"I feel weird calling her. She broke up with me."

"Well, then. You should give her more time." With that Alex let out a deep sigh and grabbed a glass of tequilla, drinking the content down, before she noticed Elena came with the new guy, looking around like lost puppies.

Matt stood up, they could feel he was tensed. "More time huh?" He hissed walking over his ex girlfriend and new friend or boyfriend, perhaps.

Alex raised her brows, looking around again and searched for the guy she saw earlier but he was gone without she could even notice. **Where the hell is he?**

"Hey, I'm Matt, nice to meet you." Matt came to them while introducing himself, awkward, but he had to face this.

"Hey. Stefan." Stefan replied calmly, introducing himself back in return.

"Hey," Elena greeted as soon as they were done introducing themselves.

Matt looked over his ex, replying her greet, before leaving them. "Hey."

"Well, that was awkward." Alex commented, her eyes were watching Matt in worry, wondering if he would be fine with all these stuffs. Then her eyes met with the new guy's eyes that were watching her the whole time, she leaned back as he came closer to sit. He thought she reminded him of someone he knew again. **Isn't she S**—

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline questioned and it distracted his thoughts. Stefan immediately turned to her and gave an answer. "Mm-hmm. And moved when I was still young."

"Parents?" Bonnie questioned tersely, being extremely curious about this new guy. Stefan replied. "My parents passed away."

"I'm sorry. Any siblings?" Elena wondered.

"None that I talk to. I live with my uncle." Stefan replied still with his charming smile he usually show in front of the girls.

"So, Stefan Salvatore, if you're new then you don't know about the party tomorrow, right?" Caroline asked after glaring at Elena whom Stefan was smiling at, she was just insecure about Elena and hour popularity amongst the guys.

"It's a back to school thing at the falls." Bonnie explained to Stefan with a smile but he didn't move his gaze from Elena yet. "Are you going, Elena?" Stefan asked, ignoring everyone around him, smiling again and over again.

"Can't miss it." Elena faked a pout and giggled.

Alex watched how her sister interacted with Stefan, it was so different. There was this feeling she had about them being together and she thought they were romantically being involved into eachother's life. She couldn't help but to smile at their cuteness, resting her head onto Tyler's chest as he was still accompanying her though he wanted to go.

* * *

After an hour of getting her make up and hair done, Alex was trying to decide what to wear for the party. There was her older sister in her room, drying her hair while looking at Alex who was holding a dress out while looking in the full length mirror. "Did you look into his eyes?" Alex said unbelieveably while rolling her eyes and started getting changed into the mini dress. "Who? Matt?" Elena answered.

"Yeah." Alex said, adjusting her mini dress.

"Not really, why?"

"He was like hoping for you to get back to him,"

"No, he don't." Elena held her hands up before walking to the door and headed to her own room, but saw someone athletic was standing in front of the door. "Oh, Tyler. You're creepy for being there like that..."

"Sorry," Tyler smiled. His jaw suddenly broke open when he saw his girlfriend in that dress, that wasn't too long before he rushed toward her and hugged her. "Look at you, babe."

"I'll be in my room." Elena smiled seeing them together.

"Wait, who are you going to the party with?" Her sister stopped her, her hands were still on Tyler's shoulder.

"Bonnie." Elena answered, "You can go."

Nodding, both Tyler and Alex quickly walked down the stairs and left the house to his car, heading to the party venue that wasn't far from the area. When the car was away from the house, she could see another car stopped in front. "I think that's Bonnie." Alex said tersely while looking back to the road.

"Yeah, she sounded like hoping Stefan would pick her up or maybe her ex would come." Tyler scoffed driving ahead to the venue and she rolled her eyes, hitting him on the arm. "Tyler!"

"Hey! Alright, sorry. I was just kidding, you know me." Tyler said, giving a flat nonchalant expression but still pleading for her to forgive what he said.

"You are not cool, Ty. Stop making jokes about her, she is my sister."

Tyler nodded and chuckled softly, begun to pinch her cheeks with his left hand while his other one was driving the car's wheel. "Tyler! Stop pinching me! Ty!" Alex laughed softly but then her happy expression faded when she saw a man in black was standing in front of the car. "Ty, watch out!"

He stopped the car immediately by hitting the brakes, lucky that they didn't hit on something or crashed on anything, so they didn't get hurt after all. "Are you okay?" Tyler questioned in concern. "Who's that? Where is he? Did we actually crash him?"

"I have no idea... And yeah I'm okay. Are you?" Alex breathed out uncomfortably, rubbing his shoulder. "Yeah, let's get back to the road." Tyler stated while driving away onto the road.

When the two were arrived at the venue, they got out of the car, seeing a few teenagers were already crowding the area which was already decorated with bright lights and several drinks served on the tables. "I'm gonna go get the drinks there. Wait here," Tyler smiled while walking away, grabbing two glasses of drinks far from where she stood.

"Hey." Someone came beside her with a simple masculine look as always, and the charming friendly and kind smile most women would fall in love of. Alex let out a heavy breath where he had scared her with his silent and quick approach toward her. "Next time, don't do that, ever again." She warned.

He looked down to his shoes and then immediately looked up with another charming smile. "Yeah, sorry." He chuckled and narrowed his eyes. "Have you seen Elena?"

"She's on the way. I came way too earlier," she shrugged her shoulders lightly and smiled at Stefan. "You know, she was in a rough shape."

"Yeah, I know. She seems like feeling down, I think I can help her with that." He said nodding lightly. "I'm going to get myself a drink. Have fun."

"Okay." Alex smiled watching him walking away from her as Tyler approached. She was really amused at the fact that Stefan was all the good guy, and he'd never been the bad guy like what she thought at first impression. "You're talking to the guy who was the reason of why Matt upset?" Tyler protested.

"Don't start." She sighed looking deeply into his eyes.

"Let's just get out of the crowd. I'm bored here," he told her while handing her the cup of drink and pulled her hand into the woods and both stopped near the big tree. "You know what, I felt worried about you. Are you fine with everything? I mean all the dealing with your parents stuff, you okay?"

Alex gulped down the drink—looking up to the sky as soon as she was about to finish her drink within seconds. She only nodded answering his question since she didn't like talking about it. "Woah, you finished them real quick," he smirked and both started kissing, slowly and softly, but soon turned into a passionate and deep kiss. But they stopped when they heard a voice of a crow nearby, including seeing all the fogs around them. "What the hell?" Tyler backed off, looking around.

"Someone help!" Both heard a familiar voice hollered and the crowded were very noisy talking about something out there until Alex realized it was her sister's voice. "That's my sister, come on, Ty!" She said, holding his hand and made their way leaving the woods, back to the crowded venue. They saw Jeremy and Elena were carrying Vicki. Matt, as the brother, came over and helped the two carrying his little sister. Tyler was panicked, "Wait, babe. I think I should help them right now."

"What happened?" Matt questioned, and a second later he yelled as if being extremely panic about his sister. "What the- somebody please call an ambulance!"

Alex shoved past everyone to see Vicki, she gasped in shock. "Oh my god.. It's her neck! Something bit her. She is losing a lot of blood."

"Dammit, Vicki, come on. Open your eyes, look at me." Matt was alarmed and upset seeing his sister like this, being weak and hurt especially bleeding severely.

Stefan could feel the blood of her neck pouring from the open wound when he saw the bite mark. He took note of the mark as his mouth fell open, running away from the party, heading to the boarding house where he saw Zach was sitting at his desk.

"What's going on?" Zach asked casually looking at his uncle who was really in panic. "Someone else was attacked tonight, Zach, and it wasn't by me." He clarified frustratedly and running upstairs to his room quickly, slamming the door shut behind him. There was obviously another vampire in town, but he hadn't encounter the vampire yet, his mind was all about the bite mark on the girls neck. Suddenly he was cut off when a crow appeared, landed on one of the beams on his ceiling and when he turned around, he was shocked to see a figure standing there on the other side of the doorway, a playful smirk was playing on his lips. "Damon." He announced.

"Hello, brother." Damon purred with the smirk signature on, walking into the room as the crow disappeared when Stefan and Damon stared at each other. "Crow's a bit much, don't you think?" Stefan asked.

"Wait until you see what I can do with the fog." He wiggled his eye brows but ended up glaring at his little brother in front of him.

"When did you get here?" Stefan asked bluntly.

"Well, I couldn't miss your first day of school." Damon joked while started to explore the room and stopped near a shelf, running a hand on each contents. "Your hair's different, I like it."

"It's been 15 years, Damon." Stefan replied tilting his head when Damon rolled his eyes as in sarcasm.

"Thank God, I couldn't take another day of the 90s." Damon smirked playfully and raised his brows before continued talking to his brother. "That horrible grunge look, did not suit you." He scoffed while walking around the room. "Remember, Stefan, it's important to stay away from fads."

"Why are you here?" Stefan made the question more clear by raising his voice like he was retorting. Damon looked at him with a playful look and replied Stefan's question like it was so simple. "I missed my little brother."

"You hate small towns, it's boring, there is nothing for you to do." Stefan announced calmly watching his brother walked near to the shelf again.  
"I've kept myself busy." Damon smirked.

Stefan nodded, slipping his hands into his pocket. "You know you left that girl alive tonight, very clumsy."

"That could be a problem... For you." Damon said lowering his voice and glared darkly at his brother before he could even answer.

Stefan shook his head, irritated at how his brother was calm with all the troubles he made for the past weeks. "Why are you here now?"

"I could ask you the same question, however, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up into one little word," Damon paused walking closer to his brother with a dangerous smirk started to appear, "_Elena_."

* * *

Alex and Elena both sat there watching the paramedics came carrying Vicki into the back of an ambulance van as Matt was there inside the van before it left and blare the sirens. Tonight was terrifying—the party was forcefully closed because of the indicent. Everyone left as they were told do except for them who were all basically Vicki's friends. They were still sitting on the wooden cottage, Caroline was sitting across theirs seat, not wanting to join them in particular but can still see and hear them clearly.

"Hey, we're gonna go to Mainline Coffee and wait for news." Bonnie informed the rest of her friends. They were shaking about what just happened to one of their friend—although Vicki was actually a friend with bad habit, they couldn't forget how she had been their friends for years. "Well, I'm gonna take Jeremy home." Elena replied, standing up, looking at everyone.

"Guys, there is no way I'm psychic." Bonnie announced carefully. "But whatever I saw, or I think I saw, I have this feeling..."

"Bonnie, what?" Alex looked at her, Tyler beside her started to look at Bonnie as well while still rubbing his girlfriend's shoulder gently. There was a long pause, the group were curious about what Bonnie will answer.

"That it's just the beginning." Bonnie finally replied, but with a scared look on her face, causing Alex and Elena to exchange looks at each other, terrified. **Beginning of what?**

Back to the Salvatores residence, the argument was still up as Damon paced the room slowly while his brother was busy watching him around. "Elena?" Damon creased his brows. "She's a dead ringer for Katherine."

Stefan walked a little bit closer, still watching his brother's moves. "Is it working, Stefan? Being around her, being in her world, does it make you feel alive?" Damon mocked with an evil grin.

"She's not Katherine." Stefan clarified carefully, hanging on each words.

"Well, let's hope not, we all know how that ended. You, me, Katherine and Serene. You gonna need tissues, brother." Damon looked at the ceilings but then turned to Stefan in an instant. There's no reply.

"Tell me, when is the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel." Damon changed the subject, wiggling his eyebrows at him. Stefan responded rolling his eyes, scoffing at his brother was about to leave. "I know what you're doing, Damon, it's not gonna work."  
Damon grabbed him immediately turning Stefan to face him. He knew exactly how to provoke the short-haired little guy, or annoy him to be exact. "Yeah? Come on! Don't you crave a little?"

"Stop." Stefan warned, raising an eye brow.

"Let's do it, together." Damon hit him again on the shoulder. "I saw a couple of girls out there."

Stefan gasped as his brother smacked him over again. "Or lets, lets just cut to the chase. Lets go straight for Elena and Alex!"

Impatient and angry, Stefan suddenly shoved him back, exclaiming in anger. "Stop it!"

"Imagine what their blood taste like!" Damon said, half-shouting, watching his brother turned. It was almost there, Damon was almost successful provoking him, and this time he purred playfully. "I can."

"I said stop!" Stefan yelled as his eyes turning a deep crimson, black veins popping around them and his fangs clicking down—he growled while launching himself at his older brother, pushing Damon and both were thrown through a closed window—landing hard on the concrete ground but only Stefan was seemed laying there, as then he pulled himself up with a loud groan escaped his lips.

"I was impressed." Damon said standing near a bush across where Stefan was at. "I give it a six, miss on style, but I was pleasantly surprised." He joked sarcastically. "Very good with the face." He made a goofy growling noise to mock him with a chuckle. "It was good."

"You know, it's all fun and games, Damon, huh? But wherever you go people die." Stefan walked over to him taking his time when Damon shrugged slowly. "That's a given."

"Not here," Stefan shook his head, showing his authority. "I won't allow it."

"I'll take that as an invitation." Damon muttered, wiggling his eye brows and ended with him pressing his lower lips.

Stefan sighed loudly, sounded like he was tired of all these. "Damon, please, after all these years can't we just give it a rest?"

"I promise you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word." He smiled evilly, walking closer and gave out a very playful look over his brother. Now he won, he knew he was. "Just stay away from Elena."

Damon flickered down scanning his brother and suddenly bursted out of laughing. "Elena? Oh baby brother. She isn't the one that I want. I want the cute younger Gilbert. Who's that? Oh, not Jeremy of course. His twin."

"What do you want from her? Stop with all the troubles you made." Stefan's eyes narrowed, pleading his brother to not touch any of the Gilberts, and the uncomfortable feelings started to haunt him.

"Why don't you tell Alex you had a brother? Or shall I tell her myself? Because I would." Damon laughed. "By the way, where is your ring, Stefan?"

Stefan's eyes flickered down to his finger as he rubbed it with another hand; the ring was no longer on his finger, it was missing but he got the feeling that Damon was playing around with him. "Oh," Damon shook his head, acting as if he was concerned, the fake worried face was shown. "Suns coming up in a couple of hours and, _poof_! Ashes to ashes."

Stefan gulped, and was about to say something but he heard his brother laughed over him. "Relax." He walked over to his younger brother and held his ring out for him to take. "I got your right here."

As soon as Stefan took the ring, he immediately put the ring back on his finger properly before Damon grabbed him by his neck as his face turned into his vampire face like Stefan's earlier before. Growling, Damon threw Stefan accross the yard causing him to land on the ground, and then he stood next to him quickly in seconds.

"You should know better than to think you're stronger than me," Damon warned his younger, weaker brother on the ground. "You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people, I wouldn't try it again." He threatened before he smirked listening to a door opened. "I think we woke Zach up," He scoffed, started to walk away. "Sorry, Zach." He stated whistling an up-beat tune and left.

* * *

Back to the party venue, Elena spotted her brother was sitting on the other beam of the small cottage's fence as her sister was still talking with her boyfriend Tyler. "You okay?" Elena asked. "I called Jenna and she's on her way. Alex will go home with Tyler, they might gonna be late, well, you know them. Those people in uniforms, last time I checked, they're the police. People are going to stop giving you breaks, Jer."

"They just don't care anymore. They don't remember that our parents are dead, because they've got their own lives to deal with. The rest of the world has moved on. You should try, too." She suggested with her voice was lowered down as she crossed her arms looking at her messed up brother.

"I've seen you in the cemetery writing in your diary. Is that─ is that supposed to be you moving on?" He asked sarcastically and turned his dark glare to her. He had lose his parents, and now he didn't want to lose the girl he loved, he could tell. "Mom and dad wouldn't have wanted this. They obviously don't want to see you like this.. Jeremy."

"Just leave me alone, can't you?" Jeremy said walking away as he saw Bonnie and Caroline was no longer there while Tyler was probably driving his sister home.

* * *

_**Mystic Grill**_

"Are you sober yet?" Bonnie asked Caroline whom sat across her table—she looked like an incredible mess. "Nope." Caroline moaned.

"Keep drinking, I've got to get _you_ home, I've got to get _Elena_ home and I've got to get _me_ home." Bonnie joked.

"Why didn't he go for me?" Caroline snapped looking at Bonnie. "I mean, how come the guys that I want never want me?"

"I'm not touching that." Bonnie whispered.

"I'm inappropriate, I always say the wrong things and.. And Elena always says the right things!" Caroline spoke sarcastically, blaming the friend that was actually popular than she is. "She doesn't even try and he just picks her and she's always the one that everyone picks for everything, and I try so hard and I'm never the one!"

Bonnie shook her head in respond. "It's not a competition, Caroline."

"Yeah it is. Bonnie!" She snapped. "She got picked on everything. Everything!"

"Care." Bonnie shook her head again and looked at the blonde in concern, the insecurity she had about her own self had been driving some of the people crazy. "Maybe if you'd calm yourself, there will be someone to pick you." She commented over her, trying not to sound defending anyone in the case. Caroline widened her eyes, but a minute later, she already had her head on her hand.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Matt was sitting on the couch in Vicki's room where she had been resting after the incident—a minute later he was aware that she woke up, gasping stutteredly. "Vicki, Hey, hey, it's okay. You're gonna be okay." Matt assured her while caressing her hair gently.

"Matt-"

"Hey, don't try to talk, okay? You're fine." He tried to comfort her—and himself, of course. It was irritating to know that his sister was still gasping, terrified about the incident. It's like she wanted to say something about the incident, and so he let her talk.

"Vampire."

* * *

Alex threw herself onto her bed, dropping her bag beside her and thought about whatever happened today. It was strange yet terrifying. She couldn't help but to keep remembering it all. She glanced up when she heard her sister making noises outside. Following Elena, she went downstairs and saw her opening the door for Stefan. "I'm sorry it's late and distracting but I need to know that you are okay?" Stefan looked at her and then at Alex back there. "Hey, Alex."

"You know, for months, that's all anyone's ever wondered about me," Elena shrugged her shoulders as Alex looked at both of them. "If I'll be okay."

"And what do you tell them?" Stefan asked when she paused to think about it. "I tell them that I'll be fine." She shrugged again.

Alex started to spoke, helping what Elena was trying to explain after all. "Well, she don't want too much people being worried about her."

"Okay... Do you ever really mean it?"

"Ask me tomorrow." Elena replied tersely with a half-smile. "I was going to take a rest... So is my sister. And my aunt, I don't wanna bother them, Stefan. My brother too."

"Yeah, okay, I understand that." Stefan smiled.

"Okay.. Good night." She said while slowly closing the door when he greeted. "Night, Elena and Alex."

* * *

**A/N**: Let me know what you think of this first chapter. What would Damon do next? I would love to read your reviews since it encourage me a lot on continuing this story.

**Carla x**


	2. Chapter 2: The Night of The Comet

**Chasing Perfection**  
Season 1  
**Chapter 2**: The Night of The Comet

* * *

Alex stared up at the ceiling waiting for her sister to be done as they were going to school together. She was currently thinking about the man she saw, he successfully made her terrified. It was like you're being terrorized and creepily stalked by someone you barely know. But just when she thought nothing else could terrify her, yesterday's incidents did. When a crow hit the car and then she spotted that man in the grill, a crow and fogs all around her and Tyler and lastly the bite marks on Vicki's neck. She was real terrified—all of it was still haunting her.

Suddenly her sister opened the door and gestured outside the room, distracting her thoughts. Alex eventually rolled over the bed, flipping onto her stomach and stood up immediately to follow her sister. After whatever happened, she thought she needed to get over it because she didn't want to feel more pain after her parents death.

Outside the room, they encountered their aunt dressed in a dark blue dress, getting ready for something. Alex narrowed her eyes when she saw her aunt was doing her hair. "Do I look adult? As in respectfully parental?" Jenna questioned for their opinions.

"Depends on where you're going." Alex replied casually while checking her phone.

"Jeremy's parent-teacher conference. Hair up or down?" She wondered, putting her hair up and showed it to her nieces and made them wondered as well.

"Sexy stewardess." Elena commented.

Jenna eventually put her hair down.

"Boozy housewife!" Alex said smirking to her aunt, before her eyes turned back to her phone, replying text messages from her boyfriend.

"Up it is." Jenna confirmed, turning to her nieces who was chuckling before she commented about them. "You guys are feisty today."

"I feel good, which is rare. So I've decided to go with it. Fly free, walk on the sunshine, and all that stuff." Elena explained while smiling to her aunt, trying to show her that she and her sister were going to be fine and she swore she would find a way for them to get used to this.

"Anyway... where is that emo-huggle?" Alex questioned while checking on her twin's room which was empty.

Jenna replied. "He left early. Something about getting to the wood shop early to finish a birdhouse."

There was a long awkward pause between them when their aunt stopped, looking at them in desperation. "There is no wood shop, is there?"

"Nope." Alex shook her head lightly, exchanged gazes to her sister as they had the same thoughts about their brother that left early with a stupid cover up reasons. Jenna sighed and defeatedly muttered, "Yeah."

* * *

Jeremy leaned on a wall and starred at Vicki who was laying on the hospital bed, sleeping well and tightly. His face was showing a deeply sad facial expression looking at her—he can still remember her condition last night, she was helpless, terrified and hurt. If only he knew what attacked her that night, he would have reported it to the local sheriff very immediately, so the case would be investigated sooner or later and no more people got attacked.

While scanning her plus making sure was fine, a nurse came into the room to check on her tab and wrote something on the paper she was holding. "You can be in here, hun. Visiting hours don't start 'till 9:00."

"I just—" He blinked. "How is she?"

"She's lost a lot of blood." She stated while still writing the report of Vicki's current condition. "Yeah, but she's gonna be ok, right?"

The nurse walked towards him and grabbed him by his shoulder, pushing him gently to get outside the room immediately. "She needs her rest. So you come back later, come on."

* * *

While the teacher was explaining in front of the clas, Alex remained quiet and once again thinking about what happened yesterday. Strangely, yesterday was like a disaster in town that a lot of terrifying incidents happened in less than 24 hours. **How is that even possible?** Alex was still mentally asking herself about it, trying to figure out whatever was going on in town.

"Ms. Gilbert?"

Her thought was distracted, she pulled herself back to reality as soon as she heard her teached mentioned her last name which surprised her. Everyone in class was looking at her as if she was a freak, they were staring at her, making her feel strange. Her gaze turned back to her teacher who creased his brows and waited for her to answer. "I'm sorry, sir. I, uh, I was-"

Suddenly the school bell rang, interrupting her to explain what she did when her teacher explained in front of the class, she breathed out in relief. Slowly she walked out of class only to encounter her boyfriend was standing beside her, "God dammit! Ty, you scared the hell out of me." She breathed out while being pulled into a hug with him.

"Sorry," he said smiling while joining their friends who were currently talking about Bonnie's psychic powers that she has recently told them, walking down the hall. "I'm confused. Are you psychic or clairvoyant?" Caroline asked.

"Technically, Grams says I'm a witch. My ancestors were these really cool Salem witch chicks or something." Bonnie chuckled, looking at them. "Grams tried to explain it all, but she was looped on the liquor, so I kinda turned out... Crazy family, yes. Witches? I don't think so."

"Witch? Okay, a _witch_?" Caroline almost moaned and scoffed quietly after hearing the explanation. "Well feel free to conjure up the name and number of that guy from last night."

"What guy?" Alex was curious, in case they saw the same guy.

"I didn't see him, she did." Bonnie answered and turned back to her blonde friend to answer her question. "And why didn't you just talk to him Caroline?"

"I don't know, I was drunk." Caroline answered simply.

"And hey, Bonnie, what's that about your statement last night at the party? That this is just the beginning?" Alex asked curiously, looking at Bonnie in confuse, hoping she would answer the meaning of it. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know... but I just got the feeling. I'm sure because it feels right." Bonnie replied simply. Her gaze moved to both Alex and Tyler who were holding hands which she thought was cute. Alex only nodded, "Oh okay... I thought you knew something more about it."

There was a pause for a few seconds until her boyfriend told her that he wanted to join his team near the field, and before he went outside, he gave her a gentle kiss on her lips. She only smiled, watching him leave until he was out of sight and continued talking with her bestfriends along the hallway together.

* * *

"The hospital are keeping her overnight to make sure there is no infection, but she should be able to come home tomorrow though." Matt said to Elena with a relief sigh, his face twisted in worry remembering his sister, in which no matter how rebel his sister was, he would always be there for her. She smiled supportively but deep down inside wondering if her brother would ever do the same... she probably gonna be the most happiest sister in the world and all the sorrow she felt may slowly faded. "Well... That's a good news." She said.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Did you get in touch with your mom?" She wondered, at the same time trying her best to change the topic and make him at least feel better. She realized they were actually having the same situation, where their family was slowly torn apart. And they, Matt and Elena, became the only ones to fix the family with a lot struggles.

"Called and left a message. She is in Virginia Beach with her boyfriend. So... we'll see how it takes her to come rushing home." Said Matt, still walking together with her, sharing their life stories and issues.

"Vicki's lucky that she's okay." Elena said while lowering her voice, rubbing her arm uncomfortably. They weren't aware that there was someone sitting on a table and overhearing their entire conversations. Stefan.

"I know, and now there's talk of some missing campers." He informed, suddenly sounded worried about the town and all the incidents happened in it.

"Did she say what kind of animal it was that attacked her?"

"She said it was a vampire," was his reply. Stefan was quietly surprised hearing this, knowing that that girl whom his brother attacked knew exactly who almost killed her last night. Elena paused while looking at him in disbelief, "what?"

"Yeah," he breathed out replying her question, he knew that nobody would believe it, because honestly he didn't believe either but it was his sister who spoke. "She wakes up last night and mutters "vampire" and then passes out."

"Okay. That is weird." she chuckled lightly.

"I think she was drunk," he shrugged. "So what's up with you and the new guy?"

"Matt, the last thing that I want to do is hurt you."

He looked at her, and then quickly made an excuse to leave. "You know, I'm─ I'm actually gonna go back to the hospital. I want to be there when Vicki wakes up, get the real story about last night."

With that, he left her there alone. Leaving her feeling guilty all over again because of everything she did, or said to him. She looked around and saw nobody though she felt someone was there a few seconds ago. She sighed frustratedly, knowing he was still avoiding her. But then she tried to convince herself that everything would be alright as soon as she get used to all of it.

Inside the hallway, Bonnie, Caroline and Alex walked near to a huge door that would lead them to the field. Alex held her book and hugged it with her arms while talking to her two best friends about the entire Vicki thing last night since it was still the top news in their school universe. Almost everyone were witnessing, and they were now talking about it. "Did you guys see the bite mark on her neck?" Alex randomly questioned.

"Vicki? No, I didn't." Caroline shrugged her shoulders, turning to their psychic bestfriend beside her. "How about you Bon?"

"Well... when I bumped her earlier before the incident, I saw these creepy things. A crow and fogs. I don't know. It gets me dizzy." Bonnie quietly sighed. Alex pulled her into a hug while patting her back, but she pulled out and made a worried face as if something was wrong with Alex.

"Bonnie, what is it?" Alex frowned.

"This psychic thing is driving me crazy. You know what, when we hugged, I saw this crow and fogs and it's the exact vision I had when touching Vicki," she panted while looking at Alex carefully before exchanging glare with Caroline. "I'm sorry, it was weird."

"So... is this something like serial murderous story? Is she gonna be attacked as well?" Caroline blinked her eyes.

"No. I, uh, I have no idea. Let's just talk about something else and hope that this feeling I had is not coming true." Bonnie said while smiling to her friends. Alex mirrored the smile but her attention was drawn somewhere outside the building where she saw her brother.

"Not anymore," Alex groaned quietly.

"What?" Caroline frowned.

"It's my brother." Alex said, immediately putting her books into her bag and walked outside. She saw her brother was walking toward her boyfriend while he was enjoying the talk with his friends. What Alex worried was that... they would probably have fight over senseless stuffs since her boyfriend never liked her brother. She could did the same, disliking her brother and avoided him but she realized she couldn't since her brother was that one person whom she spent childhood moments with. Many up and downs came to them, and the one who reminded her to stay strong was her brother.

"Hey, Tyler." Jeremy called. "I'm sorry to interrupt, I was just wondering... have you visited Vicki? How bad is she? What room number she was in? Is she going to make a full recovery?"

"Why? You want to check on her?" Tyler turned to him with a completely disgusted, distracted, disturbed expression on his face. "Get out of here. Don't bring these because she is no longer with me. Your sister won't like it."

"You told Vicki that even if you broke up with her, you will be there for her. Taking care of her. Now what? Have you even ask this to her brother at least? Did they know what attacked her?" Jeremy questioned casually, not caring if everyone was around and looking at him.

"I'm gonna kick your ass." Tyler threatened, his eyes was full of darkness, giving Jeremy a death glare as if he will kill him right now.

"Yeah, you keep saying that, but when are you actually going to do it, huh?" Jeremy squared up to him and glared back as he shoved Tyler almost too harshly. "Cause I vote right here and right now."

"You better walk away, dude. I don't want your sister to see this and I'm sure as hell you don't want it too." Tyler warned sarcastically, or upsetly, at his girlfriend's brother that he had always disliked to be honest.

"Jer!" A voice came approaching them. It was Alex. Jeremy rolled his eyes, taking a few steps back to see his sister coming. "What now?" His jaw tightened.

"What's your problem? You're tryin' to show him that you're better? By picking a fight with him? Seriously, are you stupid or what? Stop it, whatever is this." She retorted loudly while pushing her brother away by his firm chest, and when she looked at him in the eyes, he was clearly disappointed and angry.

"Listen Gilbert, I think you better walk away. It's your final warning because I don't wanna kick your ass." Tyler said somewhat upset but he tried to keep it down in front of his girlfriend.

"Tyler," she warned quietly while pushing him a bit far away from where her brother was.

"No. This is your final warning, dick. I'm sick watching you play Vicki all these time. Your promises are nothing but bullshit, something to make her let go of you. And if you ever do the same to my sister, I swear to God, I will kill you for Vicki and my sister's sake." Jeremy warned back, fearless of who he was dealing with and then immediately left Tyler with Alex there.

"I'm sorry," Tyler apologized while rubbing her back.

**Dammit.** She closed her eyes slowly, thinking about her brother that had been acting strange and short tempered for the past days. She knew it was all about their parents who had been there with them almost all the time until they passed away ─ everything in her family changed almost one hundred percent. And that look on his face a while ago was showing how hurt he had been. She thought about his bond to Elena for the past months, and it wasn't even getting better at all.

She let out a deep sigh, and when she opened her eyes, all the memories about her family when it was still complete rushing back, it was hurt but she held it inside her. She decided to go check on her little brother because she knew he needed someone—and Elena couldn't be the fittest one to accompany him right now. "I think I need to check on my brother, alright? I want to make sure if he is okay." She said kissing Tyler's cheek and immediately ran after Jeremy who was getting inside the building.

Alex immediately gripped on his neck, dragging him to the quieter part of the hallways, and slightly threw him away to the locker while giving him a death glare. "What the hell was that for? You think you can just deal with him that simple and _boom_, you're done? You know who is he. And he's two friggin years older than you."

"I'm getting really sick of him, Alex!" He yelled back in disgust when his sister defended Tyler more than him. "Why are you even on his side and not mine? I'm your twin brother! Why are you even dating him? He's a dick. Do you know what he promised to Vicki when they broke up? He said he will be there for her although they were no longer together. But he was now the complete opposite — he didn't care about her."

"He is dating me, Jer. Alright? He is protecting my feelings for me. He is no longer the jerk you knew. I'm dating him right now because he is a good man, at least he changed, unlike you." She said, her mouth fell open, watching how her brother had gone crazy just because of the Donovan chick.

He stood up and made a pleading face, looking at her, hoping she would understand but she unfortunately couldn't. "You're obsessed over Vicki, that's all. If you like her, date her, so you can prove what you can do. I will be glad if you date her instead of being mad at Tyler." She said, lowering her voice.

"Just leave me alone, Alex. I don't want to talk to anyone right now. Leave." He walked away to the other part of school halls as she sighed loudly, watching him walking away. Fighting with her twin brother was the worst part of whatever happened today, to be honest.

* * *

As soon as the school was finished, Elena texted her sister to come to the grill to have some conversations and coffee together with their friends, Caroline and Bonnie. It has been a rough week for them all, witnessing things they knew nothing about, strange.

"Well, I talked to Grams and she told me the comet was a sign of impending doom." Bonnie explained, "The last time it past over Mystic Falls, there was lots of death, so much blood and carnage. It created a bed of paranormal activity."

"That's a movie title, I've watch them." Alex said casually while eating her french fries and stopped when her friends looked at her awkwardly.

"Yeah, and then you poured Grams another shot and she told you about the aliens." Caroline rolled her eyes, turning to her brunette best friend, the older one. Elena. "So then what?"

"So then nothing," Elena replied simply.

"Not that. I mean, you and Stefan talked all night right?" Caroline prompted. "There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy-feely of any kind? Telling him to come over?"

"Wait, I thought you tell him to come back today last night?" Alex turned to her sister in curiousity and still eating her french fries. "Are you hiding something behind me?"

"Nope, we didn't go there." Elena shrugged and turned to her sister, trying to explain anything she wanted to know. "On call, Al. Only on phone, not more. You're asleep that night."

"And not even something sassy on call? I mean, we are your friends, you are supposed to share the _smut_!" Caroline told her bestfriend, slightly smiling but disappointed.

"We just talked for hours. That's it."

"What is with the blockage? Ask him to come over while your sister is sleeping, that's a perfect opportunity." Caroline suggested, "Jump his bones already!"

Bonnie and Alex both exchanged glares before playing a smirk on their lips about their blondie friend's words. "That's not gonna happen! I'm a real stalker." Alex chuckled teasing her sister, undirectly.

Caroline smirked back. "Okay, it's easy. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy, _sex_!"

"Profound." Elena rolled her eyes while standing up from her seat, grabbing her bag.

"Wait, where are you going?" Bonnie asked looking up at Elena.

"Caroline's right." She said, "It's easy. If I sit here long enough, I'll end up taking myself out of it instead of doing what I started the day saying what I was going to do."

"I'm coming along." Alex confirmed with a slight smile appearing on her lips, finishing her drink and slinging her bag on her shoulder.

Elena tilted her head waiting for her sister. "Let's go."

"Yeah, let's go. Later, guys." Alex waved at both Caroline and Bonnie, walking with Elena together leaving the grill.

Meanwhile in the Gilbert's house, Jeremy walked downstairs and went passing the kitchen only to see his aunt was there sigaling him to come over and talked to him when he grabbed his jacket. "I picked up dinner," she said as he turned to her for a moment. "Tacos. I had an urge for guacamole."

"No, I'm good, thanks." Jeremy said walking away with the jacket he carried, leaving his aunt in the kitchen.

"Eat anyway. It's a ruse. I want to talk." She replied in quiet mutters, narrowing her eyes at her nephew as he started to leave, still ignoring what his aunt offered.

"Hey, you! Come, sit!" She yelled out, pointing out to him as he began to turn around reluctantly, sitting in front of Jenna and rolled his eyes. "Back in school, freshman year, I could eat my weight in nachos, with extra cheese. It was my munchie food whenever I got stoned."

"You get high?" He grinned in a strange, weird way.

"Did. Past tense." She squinted her eyes as he watched her speaking and his grin faded slightly, when she started to get everything from the shopping bag out. "But, yeah. Loved it. Anything to get a little distraction from life... Reality. And it worked. For a while. Never lasts, though. Hey, I'm not saying I wouldn't love to rail back and kick it, but with a thesis looming and a waistline expanding."

While Jenna was talking and walked approaching the fridge, he made his way leaving the house through the back door when Jenna wasn't looking. But then she sighed when she noticed he was already gone leaving her hanging with her sentences.

* * *

When the sisters were arrived at the Salvatores boarding house, Elena practically ran for the door and rang the doorbell twice as Alex slowly made her way on joining her, trying to plan some conversations in her head when meeting her sister new crush. When no one came to the door, Alex hit the door knocker and it suddenly swung open. Both started to walk inside, fearless, walking into the house which looked creepy but not so scary either. "Stefan?" Elena called.

"Elena, I don't think this is a good idea. You know, this is so unpolite of us..." Alex reasoned while putting her phone into her bag, leaning her head forward to see whatever was there in the house. Elena ignored her while walking further into the house and Alex, however, needed to follow her.

When they heard the door hinges squeak, Elena quickly walked toward the door to see it, and both jumped when they saw a crow came through the door. Alex immediately turned around only to discover that she was right now standing close to a guy with bright icy blue eyes which she thought was kind of hot. "We, uh, we are very sorry for bargin in..." Alex said apologizing and took a few steps backward to give a few space between them.

"Well, the door was..." Elena said gesturing to the door but when she looked back, the door was already closed. "Open."

Damon looked at Elena for a few seconds. "You must be Elena..." He hung up while scanning the other brunette, "And you're Alex, right? I'm Damon, Stefan's older brother."

"Stefan didn't mention that he had a brother?" Alex stared at him confusedly, narrowing her eyes and glared at her sister who was shurgging.

"Well, Stefan isn't on to brag." He replied still locking his eyes on Alex.

"Please, come in. I'm sure Stefan will be along any second." He moved to the side and led the two into the luxury living room, where Alex stared to compliment everything about the decorations as her jaws broke open. "Wow, this is your living room?" Elena asked.

"Living room, parlor, Sotheby's auction." Damon joked with a slight chuckle escaped his curvy lips. "It's a little kitschy for my taste."

"This is so awesome." Alex chuckled as Damon responded throwing a wink at her.

"I see why my brother's so smitten, it's about time. For a while there, I never thought he'd get over the last one, nearly destroyed him." Damon explained catching Elena's attention in an instant. "The last one?" She asked.

"Yeah. Katherine. His girlfriend?" He creased a brow more in a teasing sort of way. "Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet."

"Uh, nope."

"Oops." He made a teasy smile. "Well, I'm sure It'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound. We all know how those relationships end."

Elena nodded slowly as she turned to her sister who started to speak. "You say that like every relationship is doomed to end."

"I'm a fatalist." He smirked at Alex, still scanning her once again. Until he noticed someone else. "Hello, Stefan."

When the two turned around, followed by Damon, they saw Stefan was standing there watching them, looking at Damon angrily. "Elena, Alex, I didn't know you were coming over." Stefan stated, but he didn't took his dark brown eyes off his older brother Damon.

"We should have called, sorry." Elena nodded slowly, followed by Alex's nod. "Yeah, Elena's right. We're just─"

"Oh, no, don't be silly. You two are welcome anytime, aren't they, Stefan?" Damon smiled charmingly and looked at Elena teasing her. "You know I should break open the family photo albums, or some home movies. But I have to warn you, he wasn't always such a looker."

"Thank you for stopping by, girls." Stefan spoke to them softly whilst glaring darkly at Damon. "Nice to see you."

"Yeah, we should probably, uh, go." Alex nodded with a wide smile started to appear on her lips, the smile that have taken over Damon's attention that moment.

"Yeah. Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Damon." Elena said looking at the older brother while slinging the bag on her shoulder. "Great meeting you too, Elena."

"And it was nice to meet you, Alex." Damon walked a little bit closer to the younger twin while grabbing her hand and land his lips on top of it. "Stefan...? Stefan?" Elena asked as Stefan was blocking her way to leave, and then after his brother released Alex's hand—Stefan moved away, giving the girls a way to leave.

Alex breathed out while running impatiently outside the house together with her sister, closing the door behind them, and walked away from the house's area. Back into the boarding house, the argument was still up. "Great gals!" Damon smiled playfully—or smirked.

"Whoo! Alex is passionate and, Elena, she's got... Spunk." The smile on his lips turned into a very playful smirk. "Did you overwork yourself today? Let me guess... Hospital."

"Someone had to clean up your mess." Stefan countered walking towards the fireplace.

"Well, were you successful?" Damon asked playfully. "Did the powers of persuasion work? Remember, if you don't feed properly, none of those little tricks work right."

"How long were they here?" Stefan asked fiddling with his ring slowly. "Were you worried, Stefan?"

"Scared I might use the whole mind tricks to the cute and passionate Alexandra Gilbert or your little crush? Relax, brother." Damon scoffed sarcastically and patted his brother's shoulder twice.

"What game are you playing, Damon?" Stefan asked turning around to Damon who was shrugging at the moment before walking away. "Guess you'll have to wait and see, won't you?"

Over the Gilberts house, Jenna, Alex and Elena were standing in the kitchen making food together. Alex was pouring chocolate souce onto her sundae as Elena began to help mixing it before Alex took some with the spoon and tried it.

"He's on the rebound, and he has raging family issues." Elena explained while tried some of the sundae she made and exchanged look with her sister.

"Well, at least it's an ex-girlfriend." Jenna commented.

"Yeah, at least it wasn't mommy issues." Alex chuckled, licking her lips and put the sauce back onto the kitchen's cupboard. "Or cheating issues, or amphetamine issues."

"You tell us." Jenna shrugged lightly and laughed grabbing an apple while taking a bite of it before the door was opened and was heard closed a while later. Alex turned to see Jeremy walked in with his hood up, looking at Alex for a moment and then glaring at Elena and Jenna before running for the stairs. "Hey Jer─"

"Jeremy!" Jenna called, running after him and standing at the bottom on the stairs while ignoring how she had cutted Alex off. "Where were you?"

"More stoner stories? Look, Jenna, I get it, you were cool once too and that's cool." He said holding a thumb up at Jenna. "Oh, no, no, no!" Jenna groaned, throwing her apple at Jeremy as he tried to walk upstairs.

"Ow! _Why_, Why? Why did you do that?" Jeremy asked turning around.

"Listen to me, quit ditching class, or you're grounded. End of discussion." Jenna warned him upsetly.

"Parental authority, I liked it." Jeremy gave her another thumbs up and a weird grin that made Alex laughed quietly on her seat. "Sleep tight." He finally walked upstairs and headed to his room.

"Depression makes him idiot." Alex shrugged with a smile while trying another spoon of sundae and then wiped the table with the tissues.

* * *

Next day, Stefan was inside his room and was getting ready for school while Zach slowly came giving him lectures, it felt very peculiar for a younger man like him to gave the ancient vampire a little lesson. Stefan looked at his nephew as if he was asking what he was doing there.

"What is Damon doing here?" Zach finally sent out a question.

Stefan sighed, buttoning his shirt and replied the question tersely. "He wants to make my life miserable, that's how he enjoys his."

"Well, he's putting us all at risk. This girl in the hospital could talk!" Zach informed carefully while looking at his uncle firmly.

"She won't. I took care of her." Stefan promised.

This didn't convince Zach enough. "You sure?"

"I'm _not_ sure, Zach," Stefan admitted with a heavy sigh, "I don't know how well it worked. I'm not as strong as Damon."

"So... what happens if it doesn't work?" Zach asked again.

Stefan shrugged and about to leave, looking at his nephew once again. "I don't know, I'll deal with it."

"Is she worth it? Uncle Stefan... this girl you came back for?" He called Stefan who was stopping at the door and was giving his nephew a look before leaving the room in silence, not replying the question.

At the grill, Jeremy encountered Vicki near the bar as she was about to leave, but he paused her there. From distance, Tyler was watching the two while Alex was sitting beside him to watch her twin brother. "Vicki, what are you doing here?" Jeremy asked.

"Fighting with Robert about my schedule. You'd think getting ripped up by a rabid animal would merit an extra sick day." She joked with a chuckle.

"Well, are you feeling okay?" Jeremy asked again about her condition. "I hurt."

"Well, the doctor gave you something, right?" Jeremy made sure, raising his brows.

"The kid stuff." The drug addict teen replied. "Nothing with an _o_ on it, I think they're onto me."

Jeremy laughed with her before grabbing a bottle of pills from his hoodie pocket slowly, not wanting anyone to notice. "Here, knock yourself out, literally." He placed the whole bottle in her hand.

"Thanks, Jer." Vicki smiled at him, taking two instantly, and looked at him. "Are you gonna watch the comet later?" Jeremy asked hopefully.

"I hadn't really thought about it." She admitted coyly. "But I could be talked into it. I'll meet you out there in a few."

Tyler blinked almost a couple of times when Alex watched him being irritated watching her brother and his ex-lover being together. She closed her eyes again and took a deep breathe and thought positively about her boyfriend. It felt like she was suffocating inside, there were so many thoughts zipping through her mind, and all conflicted. But again, she tried to think more positive, because she knew one thing that Tyler loved her and she loved him. "I'm just going to ask her if she's okay, would you let me?" Tyler asked distracting her 'trying-to-calm' thoughts as he caressed her hair gently.

"Yeah, sure." She smiled─faked a smile perhaps, when her man walked away approaching his ex lover. "Hey, Vic. How you feeling?" He tried to smile.

"Like you care." She spat quietly walking away from them as Jeremy made a look in a mocking manner, sending it towards the Lockwood guy. "What are you lookin' at, Gilbert?" He hissed walking back to her girlfriend on the seat. Jeremy turned to see them and was annoyed at how he had asked Vicki how was her and all, he walked back to her girlfriend who was his sister. "She didn't want to talk to me. So okay. I'm still good." Tyler said practically while wrapping an arm around her neck watching Jeremy leave the grill immediately.

* * *

Alex and Tyler casually sat on the picnic bench while watching Bonnie and Caroline turning on their candles and then Bonnie passed them two pieces of candles after that. "Some people who didn't attend this event are so not cool at all. They are going to miss this." Bonnie stated and turned to their candles who wasn't lit and did it for them. "Exactly." Alex laughed, sharing the candle's lit with Tyler.

Alex, unknowingly, and suddenly spotted Matt looking at Elena and Stefan jealously as they were talking together and sharing candles lit. "Alex, back to the discussion!" Bonnie held her hands up.

"Yeah, yeah. Relax." She said with a positive smile. "It's the night of the comet, why would I miss it?"

"She's right, let's move and join the crowds." Tyler suggested, standing up on the ground and ready to walk with his girlfriend. "Let's go." Bonnie confirmed.

* * *

A while later, a voice came from Damon's right side as he looked up to see the girl he had bitten at the back to school party. "I know you." She said; it was Vicki.

"Well that's unfortunate." Damon smirked, turning his gaze at her when she walked towards him and started to stare intently. "I don't know how but your face..."

"Excuse me, sorry." She apologized leaving to the bathroom shortly and stood near the sink looking at her pale face on the mirror. She popped another two pills from the pill bottle Jeremy had given her and quickly washing them down with sink's water. When she rose back up and looked at the mirror, she saw Damon standing there and few forward, started to attack her and ripping into her neck.

Later, everyone met again as Bonnie, Tyler, Alex, Elena and Caroline were all sitting together at a table and joined by Matt inside the grill. They were talking about the comet, until Jeremy came interrupting them. "Hey," Jeremy walked over. "Has anyone seen Vicki?"

"You're her stalker, you tell us." Tyler spat calmly leaning back on the chair. Jeremy replied, "I can't find her."

Alex looked at her brother and unexpectedly got shocked, at the same time still waiting for everyone to react about it as well. "She properly found someone else to party with. Sorry, _pill pusher_, guess you've been replaced."

"Tyler, stop." Alex warned quietly, rubbing his firm chest to calm him down and then turned to Elena who gave out an ask in an instant. "What's with the pill pusher?"

"Ask him." Tyler gestured towards Jeremy, caused Alex to shock. "Seriously, Jer? Are you dealing?"

"What, are you gonna do this right now?" Jeremy glared.

"She's never gonna go for you," Tyler's eyes darkened. "I knew her well, she didn't go for a little boy like you."

"She already did." Jeremy growled. "Over and over again."

"You _slept_ with Vicki?" Alex half-shouted, disbelieving.

"She means Vicki Donovan slept with you." Caroline chuckled nastily, as if she was giggling seductively.

"And I didn't have to force her into it." Jeremy looked evilly at Tyler.

"Stop." Alex warned again.

"What the hell is Jeremy talking about?" Matt asked Tyler in protest, being protective of his little sister. "It's nothing, man. He's a punk, let's just ignore him."

"All of you need to shut up now, okay?" Alex affirmed while standing up. "She's missing and these debate about this slumber party won't help!"

"She's right." Tyler agreed. "We should go search for Vicki,"

"How?"

"We'll check the entire grill bathrooms." Bonnie stated, dragging Caroline and Elena with her to the bathrooms. "I'll check the square." Matt declared.

"I'll come with you." Jeremy attempted to leave.

"Not until you're done with me, _emo huggles_." Alex grabbed him to the corner. "So you're dealing now? Really? I'm sick of these, okay? I tried to calm down, but you're getting on my nerves."

Tyler crossed his arms watching his girlfriend dealt with her brother in the corner, he found it amusing if he want to be honest. "I'm not dealing." Jeremy said.

"That's a nice cover up story, and it was some kind of foolish. Jer, it's a serious matter, this is the last warning, okay? I'll keep an eye on you." Alex shook her head lightly watching her brother.

"Elena and Jenna are enough giving me such warns and complains. And now, not you too." He protested.

"Should I tell school about this, or you want me to keep an eye on you? Pick one." Alex said, offering choices, leaning back against a wall and still waiting for Jeremy's response. "I choose none of the choices." He glared at her and Tyler before leaving to the square joining Matt.

* * *

On top of a shop building, Stefan caught Damon was holding Vicki basically on the edge of the building. It took Stefan a second to got himself up there, and he was already looking directly at his brother and Vicki at the edge of the roof.

"Excuse me." Stefan interrupted although Damon had already interrupted when he was aware his heroic brother was already there.

"No! No!" Vicki shrieked when she felt like she was about to fall. "Shh, I'm not gonna drop you."

"Not bad." Damon said covering Vicki's mouth. "Have you been eating bunnies?"

"Let her go." Stefan ordered.

"Shh. Really?" Damon asked, surprised, taking his hand away from her mouth. "Okay." He almost have dropped her as she screamed quietly.

"No! No!" Stefan stepped forward.

"Ugh, relax." Damon threw her forward into Stefan's arms.

Vicki sobbed, "What's happening?"

"I don't need her to be dead, but you might." Damon smirked at Stefan before looking down at the terrified drugged teenager. "What attacked you the other night?"

"I don't know, an animal." She admitted, although it didn't sounded convincing.

"Are you sure about that? Think about it. Think really hard." He faced her. "What attacked you?" Damon repeated the question.

"A vampire." She whispered terrifiedly and moved a few steps back. "Who did this to you?"

"You did!" She exclaimed.

"Wrong!" Damon interrupted her in a humorous voice and convinced her again with his mind tricks. "It was Stefan." He whispered as he grabbed her to his side as he began to compel her. "Stefan Salvatore _did_ this to you."

"Stefan Salvatore did this to me." Vicki repeated.

"He's a vampire." Damon continued compelling the teen. "A vicious, murderous monster."

"Please, Damon, please, don't." Stefan begged him to stop the acts and the tricks as Damon stopped compelling her, ripping off Vicki's bandage. "If you couldn't fix it before, I don't know what you're gonna do now." He smirked while throwing the weakened young girl at Stefan with the bandage followed.

"Your choice of lifestyle has made you weak." Damon scolded his younger vegetarian vampire brother. "A couple of vampire parlor tricks is nothing compared to the powers you could have, that you now need." Damon watched as his brother was became darker with blood lust, but was still trying to resist it at the same time. "But you can change that, human blood gives you that."

Stefan shook his head, trying harder to resist the blood craving, fighting the urges of feeding the girl on the ground. "You have two choices." Damon said, "You can feed and make her forget, or you can let her run screaming 'vampire' through the town square." He offered while looking down into the town square where he spotted Alex with her pathetic dumbass boyfriend, as Damon called Tyler, was looking for this girl who was with him right now.

"That's what this is about?" Stefan finally spoke firmly. "You want to expose me?"

"No, I want you to remember who you are!" Damon retorted.

"Why?" Stefan asked while looking at his older brother. "So I'll feed, so I'll kill, so I'll remember what it's like to be brothers again... you know what? Let her go, let her tell everyone that Vampires have returned to Mystic Falls, let them chain me up and let them drive a stake through my heart." Stefan glared darkly, "At least then I'll be free of you."

Damon scoffed at his brother before wandering over Vicki who was laying on the ground of the roof, as then he immediately pulled her. "Come here, sweetheart."

"No!"

"It's okay." He cooed before whispering something in her ears and then rubbing her arms to comfort her. "What happened?" She asked cluelessly. "Oh, I ripped my stitches open."

"You okay?" Stefan asked in concern, worried about the girl's condition. "I took some pills, man, I'm good."

Vicki laughed softly and began to left the roof carefully, leaving the two brothers alone with their debates. "It's good to be home. I think I might stay a while, this town could use a bit of a wake up call, don't you think?"

"What are you up to, Damon?" Stefan narrowed his eyes confused about what he was going to plan in the town.

"That's for me to know and for you to _dot, dot, dot_." He grinned, "Alexandra Gilbert."

"Leave Alex out of these. It has nothing to do with her," Stefan demanded.

"I'll leave Alex when you leave Elena, Stefan. Think about it, and that's it. That's the only option," Damon formed the most playful smirk.

* * *

Alex went out of her boyfriend's car together with her older sister, walking into the house after kissing him, and closed the door behind them. When they walked upstairs, they heard noises coming from their brother's room and immediately approached it. "Jer?" Alex tilted her head to check the room.

"No, it's me," Jenna popped from his room, checking on his drawer, interrogating things. "On hypocrite patrol."

"Uh, what are you doing?" Alex tilted her head to the side and confused. "And Jeremy haven't come home yet?"

Jenna stood up, facing her nieces, straightly. "I've become my worse nightmare. The authority figure, who has to violate, a 15 years privacy... Jackpot!" She held up a bong, "I see the hiding places haven't gotten anymore imaginative. And no he haven't come back yet."

"What brought this on?" Elena asked, walking in the room joining her aunt while Alex stayed outside leaning back on a wall. "Your ass-hat of a history teacher shamed me good yesterday."

"You got Tannered." Elena referred to what the kids called when getting schooled by Mr. Tanner as Alex chuckled quietly, walking inside and throwing herself at the couch, scanning the bong.

"Discover the impossible, Mrs. Sommers." Jenna quoted Mr. Tanner's sayings from the parent-teacher conference. "Got it, thanks. Like I didn't know I was screwing up."

"You're not screwing up, Aunt Jenna." Elena assured her while standing next to the couch where Alex sat.

"Yes I am." Jenna replied, she sounded firm. "And you know why? Because I'm not your mother. She made everything look so easy—and I was screwing this family up."

Alex looked up at her aunt in concern about what she just said, she sounded tired and felt terrible about her involvement into the family, "No, you're not. We're happy to have you, you're not screwing up anything." Alex said, repeating the point of Elena's last statement, "You are all we have. We love you."

"No, I can't do it. I'm gonna say or do the wrong thing, and this kid gonna get worse, and it's gonna be my fault." Jenna grew more paranoid about Jeremy's drug problem.

"I mean, yeah, I know he's in a rough shape. We've been seeing worse, hearing worse about him, Aunt Jenna. But these, aren't your completely fault. This is just the fear talking." Elena informed her wisely and grabbed her hands supportively.

"You are a little scared, that's all. We all are; Alex and I are the same too." Elena looked down thinking for a second and then looked at her sister. "We'll see, I'm sure he'll be okay." Alex smiled weakly and hugged her aunt.

"Yeah.. And hey, I have to go do something," Elena stared at Jenna kindly after thinking for a while. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Jenna nodded slowly with a comfortably smile and rubbed Elena's hands. "Yeah." She answered tersely while looking at her niece who was standing up, getting ready to go somewhere.

"Where are you going?" Alex wondered.

Elena squinted her eyes and smiled widely. "Somewhere. You stay here, with Jenna."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes while walking out the room together with Jenna as Elena was making her way downstairs.

* * *

After being left in the bar on her own, Caroline decided to return home as she was getting no more juicy information from this story, and she left the grill bar and walked toward her car and was still thinking about the stories. There was someone dressed in black was standing far away from where she stopped, fear struck through her heart as she walking across the parking lot as she heard a loud crash came from behind her and fumbled her keys, dropping them in a jerk movement accidentally.

She bent down to grab the keys and when she stood up, there was suddenly a black-haired guy was standing in front of her when she jumped out of her skin, startled by his sudden presence.

"Sorry," He apologised with his casual arrogant smirk playing on his curvy perfect lips, catching Caroline's attention. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"No, it was fine," She chuckled while shaking her hair slightly to brush her long bangs out of sight and started to flirt. "I was hoping I'd see you again."

"I know." He replied, wiggling his eye brows and tilted his head slightly.

"Cocky much?"

"_Very_ much." He smirked playfully as she replied with an amused grin.

* * *

Over the boarding house, Stefan answered to the doorbell that just rang, opening it slowly only to see his dream girl was standing there with her white outer wear. "Hey." She greeted while rubbing her fingers.

The moment was paused when he started to looked deeply into her eyes—still unbelieving that she was actually coming over. "Would you like to come in?" He offered moving to the side.

Elena jerked her thumb behind her while slowly turning around. "Comet's actually this way."

He blinked and smiling to himself, started following her to the brick wall outside the house as he saw she was leaning against it while looking up to the jet black skies that she thought it was amazingly beautiful.

"Sorry for barging in." She apologised with a low voice. "Especially after earlier."

"No, I'm glad you're here." Stefan replied calmly. "The way we left things, I didn't like it."

"So here's the thing; I got home tonight, planning on doing what I always do; write my diary like I have been since my mom gave me one when I was ten." She said, giving a little history flashback of her childhood. "So I get everything out, every feelings and it all goes in this little book I hide on the second shelf behind this really hideous ceramic mermaid, but then I realized I'd be writing things I should probably tell you."

"What would you write?" He asked.

"I would write; Dear diary, today I convinced myself it was okay to give up. Don't take risks, stick with the status quo. No drama, now is just not the time. But my reasons aren't reasons, they are excuses. All I'm doing is hiding from the truth, and the truth is that..." She paused, trying to find the right words to say. "I'm scared, Stefan. I'm scared that if I let myself be happy for even one moment that, the world's just going to come crashing down, and I, don't know if I can survive that."

"Do you wanna know what I would write?" He asked her as she nodded. "I would write... I met a girl. We talked, it was epic. Then the sun came up and reality set in, well this is reality, right here."

She formed a little smile as her heart finally won, she can't refuse the feelings that; whenever she was around him, she feel good, and it was right. The smile appeared on her lips was pure, it wasn't forced or based on anything that forced her. She wondered what people would say if she spread her feelings to everybody, was it wrong? No, she can't make sure of it; she never will.

Both of them giggled and began to walk more further around the house's terrace, talking and started to gain knowledge of each other's life deeper. And they ended up kissing. Elena had a nice night, but questions were still around her head, **what if Alex will disagree with her decision of being in love with Stefan**? **What about Matt**?

* * *

**A/N:** Second chapter is up right here. Review?

Thanks to **morry . xx81** and **guest** for the review in first chapter and everyone who **follows/fav**. It means a lot to me! :)

**Carla x**


	3. Chapter 3: Friday Night Bites

**Chasing Perfection**  
Season 1  
**Chapter 3**: Friday Night Bites

* * *

"You what?" Alex asked as she stopped rolling on the bed and turned to her sister who was adjusting her top. It was some kind of annoying to know that her sister was going back to the boarding house last night. "That's the reason you left me here with aunt Jenna? You're kidding right?"

Elena was ignoring her for a few seconds while looking at her through the mirror, she knew the whole thing she told Alex had completely confused her. "Yeah, I left to visit Stefan and I'm not kidding... at least I'm not." She finally replied more in a calmer tone.

"Whatever." Alex countered with an amused mocking grin and moved on from the bed, standing up and fixed her hair. "Let's go, we've got practice to do today."

"What practice?" Elena frowned while slowly grabbing her bag from the hanger before she paused, as if she remembered something in mind. "Oh my god... cheerleading, isn't it?"

"Yep, and please tell your blonde friend that I can't attend it because I jump out from the cliff, and dead!" Alex said simply yet reluctantly while walking outside her sister's room with her bag slinging on her shoulder. She walked downstairs while Elena was still standing there, frozen, inside her room and scoffed at her sister trying to be funny at the time.

Downstairs, Alex encountered her aunt was standing near the counter and holding her mug in her hands. She smiled bitterly knowing that Jeremy wasn't there again this morning, even the last time he was there, he only passed by and stole her coffee. Nothing fun. She recalled back to the days when her parents were still alive... she missed those moments to be honest and she wanted them back.

"Morning Alex," Jenna greeted casually while dropping her mug on the table and showed a supportive smile before she noticed Elena also coming downstairs. "I made breakfasts for you, enjoy the sandwiches."

"Morning!" Alex grabbed a piece of sandwich from the table that her aunt had served and sat on the chair to eat the breakfast. "Did Jeremy left early again?"

"Yes, he left so early today," Jenna answered sarcastically as both sisters turned their gazes to her before she continued talking. "He didn't even eat his breakfast yet!"

Alex shrugged, eating her sandwich and looked over her sister sometimes. They knew they were having the same thoughts about their brother who probably left to immediately meet his obsession at school. "Uh, okay... we are going to school now," Alex declared practically with her mouth full of sandwich. Her sister chuckled and grabbed her sandwich from the plate and rushed outside. "Cheer leading practice today. Bye aunt Jenna!"

"Take care, love you!" Jenna shouted while watching them leaving until they were out of sight. Both sisters shouted back in reply: "Love you too!"

* * *

"I'm not saying don't date him, Elena. I'm just saying take it slow." Bonnie smiled gently while giving her best friend a friendly reminded about her being close to that new guy who seemed to be hanging out with her a lot more often than he usually did.

"Bonnie, you were the one who said to go for it!" Elena replied laughing while getting prepared while glaring at both her sister and best friend who was looking unusual. "Okay... there is something you aren't saying, right? Come on. What is it?"

"Why looking at me? I don't have anything to say, Bonnie _did_ have." Alex said playfully with a chuckle while checking her nails and smiled at the thought of getting a new nail polish later.

"Well, it's stupid." Bonnie shook her head.

"Bonnie..." Elena pleaded. "Spit it out."

Bonnie sighed quietly, rolling her eyes and immediately responded her best friend. "I accidentally touched Stefan. And I got a really bad feeling."

"Is that it?" Elena paused, giving her a what look. "Bonnie?"

"It was bad, _bad_!" Bonnie affirmed, trying to convince her that she wouldn't like hearing this.

"You wouldn't want to hear that, El." Alex sighed.

"What is it? Is this the whole witch mojo thing again?" Elena asked sarcastically but trying to sound as calm as she could be.

Bonnie made a quick reply, "You know what? I'm just concerned. This is me expressing concern about my best friend's new boyfriend."

"And I love you for it, I do. But I feel good. It's been a hard year, and I'm starting to kind of feel like things are getting back to normal again," Elena smiled patting Bonnie's shoulder and looked at her sister. "And you know what? You, Alex and Stefan are the big parts of that."

Bonnie smiled softly and reminded herself that she couldn't force someone to do something especially when it came about heart and feelings. Beside her there was Alex who was mentally talking to herself because she also understood how Stefan had been there for her sister when she was in a very rough shape. Eventually, the three teenagers sat on the grass and waited for the school bell to ring while talking about other subjects until someone came and sat with them. "Morning Elena, Alex, Bonnie." Stefan smiled kindly, looking at the three.

"Morning," Bonnie mumbled and stood up, ready to walk away while putting her head down. "I'm gonna go find Caroline, she is not answering her phone. I'll see you guys."

"Bonnie, wait..." Elena tried to reach her hands but she was walking away too far without even turning back to give her a chance to talk. She sighed loudly.

"She doesn't like me very much." He stated calmly.

"She doesn't know you." Elena explained. "She's my friend, she's looking out for me, but when she does, she will love you."

From distance, Tyler stood next to Matt while playing football randomly in the open grass field because it was their major sport and the match would be held soon. "Look, there goes Elena and her new boyfriend with my babe!" Tyler teased while putting up a mischievous smile, "And what are they doing? Oh... they are walking, walking, walking. Yep, right into the sunset."

"You're a dick." Matt hissed.

"Whilst you just stand there like one of those little yard trolls." Tyler continued while smirking playfully and threw the ball toward Matt. "Glad that my babe doesn't give a damn about him, she chooses me more."

"Gnomes." Matt corrected him while catching the ball and sometimes watched his ex and the new guy, it literally made his heart ached whenever he saw them together and she seemed enjoyed having him around more.

"Here's what we're going to do," Elena started, turning to him completely, giggling. "Are you free tonight?"

Stefan paused when he was asked but smiled while replying her question. "Yes."

"Perfect." Elena smiled and begun informing him. "Dinner. My house. Eight o'clock. Bonnie, Alex, you and me. So that you and Bonnie can spend some quality time and she can see what a great guy you are. Mission accomplished."

"Hmm, dinner. Nice choice!" Alex teased.

"Shut up." Elena rolled her eyes as they all started to laugh together while from the distance, Matt was still ached, but he could do nothing.

"Hey, what am I suppose to do, Ty? she made her choice." Matt said throwing the ball to Tyler.

"Let her know she made the wrong one." Tyler said and then grabbed the football, getting ready to do something which Matt could sense it was something wrong.

"What are you doing?" Matt demanded. "Ty! Don't. Ty. _Don't_!"

Tyler ignored him and threw the ball as hard as he could toward Stefan who was quickly turning around to catch the ball, saving himself from the humiliation Tyler was going to do and formed a smirk before throwing it back to them both, it nearly knocked Tyler, both him and Matt were shocked. Elena laughed—but her sister didn't. She was gasping knowing that it was her boyfriend who started this.

"Stefan, I'm so sorry for what he did. I know that he is sometimes stupid for trying to do that kind of stuff," Alex hissed while walking toward Tyler angrily, beside him Matt was laughing and started walking away from him.

"Good luck with that, dude!" Matt patted his back.

"Hey, Sorr─"

"What was that for?" Alex asked trailing him off, and stood there in front of him with a clearly not amused expression because she was kinda pissed off.

Tyler was startled."Alex, you know how much it hurts Matt to watch Stefan and Elena together. I'm just... I was just trying to—"

"To what? Humiliate him? Seriously, Ty? If I was Elena, I could have kick your ass for being such a dick toward her friend!" She protested bluntly but still keeping her voice as low as possible.

"Look... okay, you know I'm still trying hard to keep myself down and you are the reason that I want to change. I was once a dick and you know that too. I promise I would change into a better person, Alex." Tyler smiled convincing her while pulling her closer to him and prevented her from walking away in any second.

"Then prove it." Alex said calmly. "Prove that─"

She was cut off when he kissed her lips, and she couldn't deny it, because she knew he meant everything he said to her. She knew there was a part of him, a softer part, which was trying to show up. "List what else should I prove to you then babe."

* * *

Alex walked down the hallway and went to her locker to put her books back. When she closed the door, she saw her boyfriend was already next to her with a very wide charming smile she couldn't handle. She chuckled seeing him just standing there and he even kept the smile plastering his face without doing anything else. "Okay..." She paused, "Sweet puppy look, that's not gonna work. I'm not giving you a kiss again!"

He wasn't even moving yet, still smiling. Her eyes flickered to him and lose her control, immediately giving his lips a sweet kiss and he replied it softly. "It worked." He was amused.

"You left class early?" She asked while kissing him once again.

"You're changing topics." He suspiciously creasing his brows and smirked.

Alex rolled her eyes while walking away to find her sister as he followed behind, where she saw her sister walking out the class with her new date. "Elena!" She shouted while waving at her before rushing toward her and gave her a hug.

"Hey, Alex!" Elena giggled, "You should have seen Stefan because he got Mr. Tanner's smile wiped out. He and Mr. Tanner debated about years and date, history stuff. And he actually won."

"Wow. How did you do that? Most students find it boring, Stefan!" Alex wondered while walking alongside with them.

"Years and years of crossword puzzles." Stefan answered jokingly. "It's a loner thing. But I can memorise something easily once I study hard about it."

"That's amazing. It made my day," Elena laughed as Matt passed by without looking at them.

"Oh, _he_'s pissed." Alex glared at her sister.

"Is it okay? You and him?" Stefan concerned.

"Yeah, it is okay. It will be." Elena sighed quietly before she saw Tyler rolling his eyes in disgust. She didn't really care what he thought about her.

Later at the cheerleading field, Alex walked together with her sister seeing the other cheerleading girls were preparing themselves. They joined Bonnie who was sitting on the ground, she was suddenly surprised that the sisters finally joined the practice again. "Oh my god!" Bonnie jumped hugging the two sisters excitedly. "You're both here!"

"Yup!" Alex said popping the _p_. "Here we are!"

"Well... we can't be the sad girls forever who lost their parents. And we've decided to get things back to the way they were." Elena added with a small, bitter smile.

"That's good then, girls. You're moving on." Bonnie smiled happily.

"Mhm." Elena murmured, sitting down the ground near to Bonnie, joined by Alex who was sitting beside her. "Oh, and by the way, you are coming to dinner tonight."

"I am?" Bonnie laughed softly.

"Yep. You, me, Alex and Stefan." Elena stated smiling and stared at her bestfriend. "You have to give him a chance."

Bonnie sighed quietly while looking away. "Tonight's no good."

Alex made a face while giving Bonnie a look, it was like she tried to change the subjects, she didn't seem to be liking Stefan lately. "Have you seen Caroline? I texted her like a hundred times."

"Nope, she don't tell me, yet I haven't heard of her since yesterday." Alex said simply holding her hands up.

"Don't change the subject, Bonnie Bennett! You too, Alexandra!" Elena commanded. "Bonnie, you're going to be there, that's it."

"Fine, I'll go." Bonnie frowned defeatedly.

At the football field, Stefan encountered Mr. Tanner and discussed about joining the team if it was possible. "Varsity trials were last spring, Mr. Salvatore." Mr. Tanner informed.

"I wasn't here then, sir." Stefan told.

"And you're not here now as far as I'm concerned." The teacher replied sarcastically or curtly.

"Mr. Tanner, I realize that you and I didn't get off to the best start." Stefan replied. "And I wanna apologise for that, I've played football before, wide receiver, mostly, and I'm pretty good."

"Well, I won't be asking you who won the super bowl in '71." He joked in sarcasm.

"71 was..." He paused when he received a deathly look from his teacher. "Sorry, I, uh, I understand that, sir."

"Just to see you get knocked on your ass. Go borrow some gear." He stated, jerked his head towards the changing room and ordered Stefan who started walking away. "Go! Before I change my mind."

"Let's run it again!" Mr. Tanner yelled.

"First, _my girlfriend_. Now, _my team_?" Matt sighed frustratedly at the thought that Stefan slowly started to take everything from him little by little.

Tyler turned to him and gave him a disbelief look and then put his helmet back on. "Dude, this is an opportunity. Football is a contact sport! Sometimes people get hurt."

Back over the cheerleading field where most of cheerleaders were warming up, the three BFFs were still concerned about their blonde best friend who hadn't come yet she couldn't be contacted. "Seriously, where is Caroline?" Bonnie asked.

"I don't know." Elena shrugged lightly looking at Alex. "It's not like her."

"Let's just try it again. Maybe this time she will pick up." Alex suggested.

"Yeah, I'll try her again." Bonnie nodding while grabbing her phone to dial Caroline's number quickly, hoping this time she would really answer the call. Suddenly, a loud burst of music came behind them, it gradually got louder when Elena noticed it was Caroline.

"Uh.." She pointed to the car as both Bonnie and Alex turned around seeing the car stopped.

"Oh my god..." Bonnie gasped.

Alex blinked a few times while watching Caroline leaning over her seat to give Damon a passionate kiss before she got off the car. Strange... she felt something heavy hit her heart that was pounding hard when she first saw him. She immediately shook her head, trying to ignore every thoughts she had and hoped no one noticed, though Damon did.

"That must be the mystery guy from the grill..." Bonnie stated while still busy watching.

"That's not a mystery guy..." Alex replied, breathless, through clenched teeth. "That's actually Damon Salvatore."

"Salvatore? As in Stefan?" Bonnie repeated in hushed voice referring to Stefan when Elena nodded lightly, standing up to see Caroline cockily walking over them.

"I got the other brother," she teased looking straight toward Elena but aimed the statement for Alex and giggled softly at herself. "Hope you don't mind!" Again she said, turning to the other girls. "Sorry, I'm late girls. I was busy!"

Damon wiggled his brows before smirking watching Alex and decided to stay for a while to watch over her, but pretended like he was watching Caroline for now. Alex breathed out and slowly walking away from the field, leaving the other cheerleaders including her sister and bestfriends. Caroline watched her walking away and rolled her eyes.

"What's with her?" Bonnie whispered to Elena pointing at Caroline, and then a moment later pointing at Alex who was walking away. "And her."

"I don't know." Elena replied. "Alex is acting really strange..."

Caroline hit the play button as the song started, everyone were moving perfectly together along the song, except Elena who was lost in her deep thoughts. "Elena, sweetie." Caroline caught her attention. "Why don't you just observe today?"

Stopping, Elena moved backwards to the football field looking over the guys playing in the field and she was surprised when she saw Stefan in his football gear, playing in the team just like what Elena told him to. He was really good at Football, being able to get past Tyler, catching all the balls that was thrown at him, and Mr. Tanner had to admit that he was quite impressed, and so Elena was.

* * *

As soon as Stefan returned home that evening, he had a quick shower and at least he had to smell good as he was going to the Gilbert's tonight. While pulling his shirt, he walked back into the room when he saw a pair of feet at his desk, causing him to start feeling irritated of the figure's presence. "How were try outs?" There was a voice behind, he was grabbing Stefan's journal.

"Did you make the team? Very emerson, the way you reveal your soul, so many." Damon teased, as Stefan ripped his journal out of his hands. "Adjectives."

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked strictly.

Damon paused, sitting on the chair in the room. "I've come to apologise. I've been doing some... soul searching and I want us to start over. We need to put the past behind us, you're my little brother and if you want to live a normal, happy human life, then I want that for you." The older Salvatore stood up, walking around the desk, about to stand next to his younger brother. "Maybe I could do it too, maybe I could learn to be a non... non-living person?" He asked smiling before it cracked into a smirk and walked away slowly. "Maybe there's hope for both of us."

"You know it doesn't have to be this way." Stefan told him.

"Of course it doesn't." Damon replied like it was clear. "I saw Alex today BTW, that means _by the way_." He explained with a small chuckle. "She was at the cheerleading practice with her sister. They were cute in their short shorts... Just simmer down. Well, oh, Alex also looked so, disappointed. Possibly because of seeing me and Caroline together. Where is her boyfriend? He should have look after her that moment."

"What is this game again, Damon? Are you playing around with Caroline and Alex?" Stefan concerned shaking his head lightly. "Don't, Damon. Leave them be, leave Alex if you're just going to hurt her, she deserves to have Tyler more than to have you."

"Oh yeah? That's such a wise sayings. Shall I quote or note that?" He grinned. "Well, she goes somewhere after seeing me. Seems like someone's been disappointed. Oops." He shrugged lightly while started to walk away from the room. "Oh, that reminds me, I gotta go, I have a date. Wish me luck,"

At the Gilberts house, Elena was serving the salad bowls onto the table while listening to Bonnie sometimes talking to Alex about random stuffs and preparing for dinner before Stefan came.

"You explain it. Last night, I'm watching nine-o, a commercial breaks come on and I'm like, I bet it's that phone commercial. And it was right." Bonnie stated.

"Oh, come on, that commercial's on a constant loop." Elena rolled her eyes.

"Well, how about this? Today I'm obsessed with numbers. 3 numbers. I keep seeing 8, 14, and 22. How weird is that?" She admitted.

"Maybe we should play the lottery." Elena said, setting the pie. "Have you talked to your Grams?"

"She's just gonna say it's because I'm a witch. I don't want to be a witch. Do you want to be a witch?" Bonnie asked.

Elena breathed as she poured the to-go food into a bowl. "Nope. I don't wanna be a witch."

"And, putting it in a nice bowl isn't fooling anybody." Bonnie winked.

Alex was quiet at the moment, but Bonnie noticed and shook her shoulder. "Alex? Alex!" She called.

"Hm?" Alex blinked in a sudden.

Bonnie rolled her eyes, started to wonder what just happened to her. "Are you daydreaming?"

"Nope. I was just... you know. Caroline has been acting weird lately and I wonder if she will be okay." She lied, making up a cover up story to tell them.

"That's okay, I'm sure she's okay. Now, serving spoons, where are the serving spoons?" Elena tried to think hard, looking and walking around the kitchen.

"Middle draw on your left." Bonnie pointed.

Elena opened the middle draw, revealing wooden serving spoons in there. "Ok, so you've been in this kitchen like a thousand times."

"No, it was just you being completely a forgetful old lady." Alex teased and smirked while eating a piece of strawberry from her fridge.

When they were talking, the doorbell suddenly rang, caused Elena, Alex and Bonnie to turn their gazes to the door as Elena decided to go for it. "Okay, he's here. Don't be nervous, just be your normal, loving self." Elena stated calmly.

"Here we go." Alex laughed giving Bonnie a look as she looked for candles inside the drawer while Elena was welcoming Stefan in.

The four teens sat on the chairs having dinner together in an awkward silence as Elena looked at Alex and Bonnie, urging them to say something. "Uh, so Stefan, you're joining the football team, huh? I heard you're playing good." Alex gave Stefan a look as she grinned.

"Yeah, but I could say, yes, I can play good. Did your boyfriend mention something else?" Stefan nodded smiling to her. "Anyway, Damon mentioned about you, he said he saw you today."

Alex suddenly was trailed off when he started to speak about Damon, but she immediately form a fake smile on her lips and sent it to the other three teens. "Tyler didn't say anything. And, yep, I saw him but I was feeling, you know, dizzy... so I ran into the class, took some sleep."

"That's understandable, but I'd say, don't get involved with him, it's for your best and safety, Alex." Stefan said giving out warning for the younger sister.

Alex narrowed her eyes, wondering what made Stefan dislike his brother that much, but she may have to note his warnings though, although she didn't plan to take the warnings way too seriously.

"Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asked Stefan changing the subject that seemed to confuse her little sister.

"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right." Stefan said calmly with a light shrug looking at Elena.

"Bonnie, Alex you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him and-" Elena tried to inform them but she was trailed off when Bonnie cut her off.

"Yeah, I heard." Bonnie said interrupting her.

Alex grinned. "I didn't, but that must have been cool, Stefan."

Elena literally grinned to Bonnie and gave her a look. "Why don't you tell Stefan about your family, Bonnie?"

"Divorced, no mom, live with my dad." Bonnie replied quickly to something that she think it was the main point. Alex chuckled softly, knowing how nervous Bonnie was after Elena gave her a sudden death look, and now she was answering something else.

"No, Bon. About the witches." Elena said shaking her head. "Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches, it really cool."

"Cool isn't the word I'd use."

"Well, it's certainly interesting." Stefan spoke, making the situation a little bit comfortable. "There was a group of celtic druid who moved here in the 1800s."

"My family came by way of Salem." Bonnie informed.

"Really?" Stefan asked disbelief. "Salem witches?"

"Yeah." Bonnie shrugged slowly while giving the sisters a look, but Alex don't seemed to notice as she was busy with her food, although she listened to everything.

"Well, I'd say that's pretty cool." Stefan said, looking at Elena and Alex, and then Bonnie.

"Really? Why?" Bonnie questioned, asking for what made him think so.

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism. And nonconformity." He told her, causing Bonnie to agree with the statement, and Elena thought her plan went well. "Yeah, they are."

The doorbell rang for once more as Alex's eyes flickered to her sister. "I'll open the door." Alex said with her mouth still full of the dinner meal, standing up and reached the door before opening it slowly.

"Surprise!" Caroline exclaimed standing there holding the dessert on her hands. "Bonnie said you were doing dinner, so we brought dessert."

"Oh..." Alex was surprised but still letting her in while turning around watching Caroline but was more surprised again to see Damon in front of her, leaning on the other side of the door. "Hope you don't mind." Damon formed a sneaky smile, or _smirk_.

Stefan slowly walked toward the door, surprised to see his brother standing there looking cocky as always. He was sure that he wanted Elena to invite him inside. "What are you doing here?" He asked, getting annoyed, his eyes sometimes flickered to Alex who was nervously rubbing her arm.

"Waiting for Elena to invite me in." Damon replied simply like nothing ever happened between all of them.

"Yeah, sure come-" Elena trailed off when Stefan stopped her. "No, no. He can't stay."

Alex immediately gave Stefan a confused look. He was trying to stop his brother from coming in, but why did he has to be invited in?

"What about Alex? Hm? You got her upset today." Stefan said strictly to his older brother while looking defensively at him.

Caroline laughed defending Damon. "Come on, Stefan, she has Tyler by her side. Besides-"

"Shh." Damon cut her off. "Don't run your mouth yet."

"Okay, just get in here." Caroline giggled while pointing at him to come in.

"Elena?" Damon leaned over to look at Elena with a smile. "I want to apologize to Alex too."

"We're just finishing up." Stefan spat, knowing if he was invited in, he could access the house whenever he wanted to.

"Alright, come in." Elena said inviting him in after a moment of thought.

Damon smiled while walking through the door, stepping over the boundary line that would usually not allow him to get into the house while looking around. "You have a very beautiful home." He commented.

"Thankyou, not greater than yours." Elena replied smiling leading everyone to the living room which was a better place to have chats.

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team!" Caroline practically gushed.

Alex was quietly sitting across their couches next to her psychic friend while trying to stop herself from looking into that bright icy blue eyes of Damon that was also looking at her since the beginning. "Tyler must be seething... but good for you! Go for it." Caroline smiled encouraging Stefan.

Caroline's statement caught Alex's attention for a moment because some people still saw him as someone who was annoying and all that stuff. Damon spoke turning slightly to his brother, "That's what I always say to him, you have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you, you have to go get it."

"Yeah, but Elena wasn't so lucky today." Caroline added with a fake pout. "It's only because you missed summer camp, God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines."

Alex suddenly scoffed in sarcasm and irritated smile. "Bonnie will work with her, calm down. It's as if you're winning her popularity now, _nope_! Sorry. You still have to try harder."

"Yeah. I'll work with Elena... and she'll get it." Bonnie replied defending Alex and especially Elena.

"Oh. Alex! I'll take that as a challenge. But hey, you have got me started on you right now," Caroline rolled her eyes and began mocking her. "Seriously? A cheerleader walking off skipping practice, so unprofessional, hm? I think I should put you in the back."

"You don't seem like the cheerleader type, Alex." Damon commented.

"It's only because her parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase, she used to be way more fun. And I say that with complete sensitivity." Caroline replied sarcastically defending herself, didn't even care how the others glared deadly at her.

"I'm sorry, Alex, I know what it's like to lose someone we loved especially family members. In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've cared about die." Damon pipped up.

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon. Don't screw everything up." Stefan interrupted his older brother firmly.

"You know what, you're right, Stef, I'm sorry. You know the last thing I want to do was to bring them up. Mmm." Damon said looking at his brother teasingly and flickered to Alex's hands which was collecting the mugs.

After collecting the mugs, Alex took them to the kitchen and started cleaning them leaving the others talking in the living room. She leaned against the counter, thinking about that whole cheerleading had her parents stuffs, she promised herself to feel no more pain, she should really move on from her parents death. "I'm sorry," a sudden voice behind her suddenly surprised her.

"Oh!" Alex gasped closing her eyes and put her palm on her heart for a moment after turning around to see Damon behind her. "Oh god. Damon. You scared me!"

She opened her eyes while chuckling nervously when she saw him standing only a few inches away from her with a sexy smirk. And when she started to lean against another counter, she missed it and was about to fall onto the ground but he suddenly caught her in his arms. "T- Thank you," her expression was flat but her lips slowly formed a smile toward him.

Her heart was beating very fast, she didn't have any idea if it was because she fell or it was because him. Honestly she was impressed because of what he did.

"No need." He smirked, helping her standing up while watching her grabbing another mug from the counter but her eyes was still looking at him, casuing the mug to accidentally fell to the ground, lucky he caught it faster without she could notice. "Nice... catch." She giggled and grabbed the mug over from his hands.

"I like you." Damon smiled at her while watching her cleaning the rest dishes. "You know how to laugh, and you make me smile after a very long time didn't."

"Earlier, did you mean... Katherine?" Alex asked.

"Her younger sister, Serena, my ex-girlfriend. But I loved to call her Serene, more than her real name." Damon informed her through answering the question she asked.

"She died too?" Alex frowned.

"Mhm." He murmured mournfully. "In a fire, tragic fire."

Alex turned around and questioned. "Recently?"

"It seems like it was yesterday." He replied.

"What was she like? I mean, Serene." Alex asked referring to his ex-girlfriend he just told her about.

"She was beautiful, a lot like you in that department." He teased while raising his eyebrows. "She was also very complicated and selfish and at times not very kind, but very sexy and seductive."

Alex nodded slowly and began to put the mugs into the cupboards, placing it carefully. "So, how long did you date?"

"Too long." Damon told her with a small chuckle and began to help her folding the table clothes. "If I were you, I'd quit cheerleading." He spoke randomly.

"Why do you say that?" She wondered.

"Oh, I saw you today. You were... miserable." He replied knowingly, getting her attention. "You saw that?"

"Am I wrong?"

"Well, I used to love it." She confessed to him. "It was fun, but things are different this year, everything that used to matter, doesn't anymore."

"So, don't let it. Quit. Move on, problem solved, ta-da." He grinned after speaking bluntly towards her.

"Hm. Some things could matter again." She argued optimistically with her brows slightly creased.

"Maybe." He shrugged lightly. "But, honestly, it seems a little unrealistic to me."

"I'm sorry about Serene..." She suddenly apologised changing subjects. "You lost her, too."

Damon locked his eyes with her deep adorable chocolate brown eyes, he had lost himself there, looking at the beautiful familiar face of his former lover. But then he almost jumped when he heard a voice appeared behind them. "Need any help?" Elena offered, walking slowly joining them with Bonnie behind her.

Damon smiled. "Sure, girls, why not?"

Back to the living room, Caroline was talking to Stefan on the couch. "Matt tries, but he's just having a really hard time. You have to understand that they were each other's first. You know, like, from the sandbox."

"Well," He nodded while still concerned what's with the scarf she was wearing. "That's a really nice scarf, anyway."

"Thank you, it's new." She smiled at the compliment he gave.

"Can I, uh, see it? I mean, would you mind taking it off?" Stefan began to ask questions about it suspiciously.

"Oh, I can't." She replied shaking her head lightly.

"Why not?" Stefan asked once again. "You okay?"

She paused trying to think what was the best cover up story because she was told not to tell anyone. When she got the idea to answer, she immediately put on a weird grin. "All I know is that, I can't take it off."

Suddenly, Damon walked into the room, sitting on the arm of the couch next to Caroline, and glared at Stefan knowing he had questioned something to her. "What are you two kids talking about?"

"I was just commenting about her scarf. It was nice." Stefan said giving his brother a deep death look.

Damon smirked. "Mm, I was thinking about buying a special one for Alex! Maybe for Elena too if you want to."

"Hey, you know Caroline... uh, Elena, Bonnie and Alex are finishing up the dishes, why don't you go to see if you can help?" He grinned at his fake girlfriend.

Caroline literally laughed. "Does it look like I do dishes?"

"For me?" Damon asked, growing impatient.

She thought hard about it, and decided to refuse his order simply and practically. "Hmm, I don't think so."

Damon's grin dropped as he immediately caught her eyes locked with his—and did his compulsion tricks. "Go see if Alex needs help in the kitchen."

"You know what, I'm going to go see if Alex need some help in the kitchen." Caroline stood up, walking away from the room to join her bestfriends. Damon grinned, "Great."

"They are people, Damon. She's not a puppet, she does not exist for your amusement, for you to feed on whenever you want to." Stefan growled impatiently—being irritated about what his brother had done ever since his arrival.

"Sure, she does." Damon shrugged acting innocently. "They all do. They are, whenever I want them to be. They're mind for the taking."

"Alright, you've had your fun." Stefan said strictly, growing impatient, but he tried to keep it down. "You've used Caroline, got to meet Elena and entered her house, and lastly, you flirt with Alex. Now it's time for you to go."

"That's not a problem. Because... I have been invited in and I'll come back tomorrow night and the following nights. And I'll do with my little Alex _whatever_ I want to do. Because that is what's normal to me." Damon gave a smirk showing how he thought he was winning and threatened his brother all at the same time.

* * *

It was the next morning. Alex was walking outside the school building, heading to the field, where she noticed Stefan was holding Tyler back from fighting with Jeremy. She quickly approached them and pushed Jeremy back off who was just cutting Stefan's hand by accident. "Hey! What the hell, Jer? Tyler? Again?!" Alex retorted while pushing her twin one more time by his firm chest, avoiding him to get into another fight with Tyler.

"Ty, please just go. I'll deal with my brother. Matt, take Ty out of here!" Alex commanded while pushing Jeremy farther and watched Matt pushing Tyler away from the area, avoiding another fight.

"What is it now? See, your head is bleeding!" Alex was right now between worried and upset, she hated the fact that she couldn't pick a side between her brother and boyfriend.

"He was being a dick, in front of Vicki when she wanted to apologize. And really, I'm fine!" He growled sarcastically as she could smel alcohol coming off his breath.

"Yeah, you smell fine. Damn dude! You're a real stoner. Don't expect me being nice to you anymore for this!" Alex said strictly, more like a warning, trying to get his attention knowing he wouldn't stop before she did something.

"Hey... okay! Fine! I'm sorry. Please, Alex." He pleaded, sounded terrified about her warning.

Alex sighed loudly while walking away to encounter her sister and Stefan. "I don't know, just think about it. Let's see if I change my mind."

"You okay?" Alex asked Stefan in rush, seeing a great cut and blood on his hand. "Oh god, your hand..."

"Oh my god, is it okay?" Elena concerned.

Stefan immediately covered his palm into a fist and stated it was all fine but when Elena tried opening his hand, there was nothing there. Only a long red line. "But I saw it..." Elena cutted off, being dumbfounded.

"Jeremy missed, it's not my blood. See? I'm fine."

"I saw it, clearly, it's not possible that I'm having eyes health issue!" Alex spat, holding his hand but there was no clue. He smiled to her, "I'm fine, Alex, thank you for concerning. It's almost kick-off time, all right? So, I'll, uh, I'll see you two after the game."

Stefan gave out a smile to both sisters as he excused to get back to the game, Elena and Alex only nodded as the two changed subjects. "Look. Stefan gave it to me. How?" Elena asked, showing a beautiful necklace on her neck.

"Cute." Alex teased. "You guys are dating? Looks like it."

Elena smiled shyly while looking down to the ground, trying not to show her blush on her cheeks. "Is this a wrong choice to be with him? I mean... approving him into our lifes, is that wrong?"

"If you think it's right, then it is. Don't let anything else pushes you down. If you're happier with him, then you should be very happy to have him around you now!" Alex commented but smiled in the end, giving her sister some support because she was finally, romantically involved with a new someone because she deserved to be happy too.

* * *

Later that evening, Alex went to the car to grab her bag inside and turned around once she got the bag and was surprised to see Damon was standing behind her. "You scared me!" She complained, "What are you doing here, Damon?"

"I'm hiding from Caroline." He whispered.

"And why is that?" Alex frowned, whispering back in response.

"I needed a break, she talks more than I can listen."

"That could be a sign." She replied shrugging still looking at him. "Well, she's awfully young."

"Not much younger than you." She countered jokingly.

"I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture, I think she'd drive me crazy." Damon scoffed more in a mocking manner.

"Caroline does have some really annoying traits, but we've been friends since I entered school and that does mean something to me." She answered his scoff casually with some wise words for him.

"Very loyal. And it's duly noted." He smiled. "I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my actual intention."

"Yes, it is," Alex argued wisely. "Otherwise, you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say."

"You're right." He admitted, but there was a small and not noticeable seductive smirk playing on his lips. "I do have other intentions, but so do you."

"Uh, really?" She was unconvinced.

"I see 'em." He nodded confidently. "_You_ want me."

"Excuse me?" Alex tilted her head to the side, confused about what he was talking about.

"I get to you, you find yourself drawn to me." He formed a seductive smirk, compelling her while leaning closer to her face. "You think about me when you don't want to think about me, I bet you even dream about me. And right now, you _want_ to kiss me."

She gasped and slapped him hard on the cheek, glaring him in aghast and disgust. "Wh─ what the hell, Damon!? I don't know what game you're playing, but I don't want to be a part of it. I'm not Caroline who you can use as a back-up while you sneak around to flirt with other girls. And I don't know what happened in the past, but let's get one thing straight that I'm sure as hell I'm not Caroline or your ex girlfriend, Serene!" She scowled before walking away from him, leaving him pissed off.

Later, Matt was trying to talk with someone who had stole his everything (almost everything) but he can never be like his friend who handle things emotionally. He was at least nicer that that. He wouldn't pick a fight. "You gonna be able to play?" Matt asked nicely.

"Oh, yeah. I'm good," Stefan answered.

"What you did back there... you had Jeremy's back." Matt started.

"Ah, he's a messed-up kid." Stefan shrugged lightly while turning to him, calmly. "Somebody's gotta look out for him."

"I know." Matt nodded and started to admit to the Salvatore guy. "This week at practice, I was a dick. And don't mind about Tyler, he is just being a good friend of mine."

Stefan smiled casually. "Had your reasons."

"No excuse." He reached his hand and shook Stefan's hand before walking away. "Good luck tonight, we're lucky to have you."

After he walked away, someone suddenly clapped his hands behind him, giving applause while leaning against a wall in the dark shadows. Stefan turned around and already recognized that it was his brother.

"Isn't that nice? Stefan joins the team, makes a friend. It's all so _rah, rah, go team, yeah_!" He joked sarcastically—it was obvious that Damon was the one who spoke.

"Not tonight. I'm done with you." Stefan told him.

He turned to walk away but then his brother appeared in front of him in all of sudden with an arrogant smirk. "Nice trick with Alex. Let me guess, vervain bracelet? I have to admit, I was a bit surprised. You're good. It's been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion." He smirked. "Where'd you get it?"

"What? Her bracelet?" Stefan pointed out and scoffed at his older brother who was just failed compelling someone for the first time, compelling someone he really desired. "I don't give it. When we meet, her bracelet is already there."

"Well, guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way. Or I could just... eat her." He shrugged lightly.

"No, you're not gonna hurt her, Damon." Stefan shook his head slowly.

"No?" Damon raised his eye brows and glared.

"Because deep down inside, there is a part of you that feels for her. I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you, that you may have actually become the monster you're pretending to be." He told Damon firmly.

"Who's pretending?" Damon asked mocking his brother.

"Then kill me." Stefan gave him the opportunity.

"Well, I'm... I'm tempted." He nodded.

"No, you're not, you've had lifetimes to do it, and yet, here I am. I'm still alive and there you are, you're still haunting me, after 145 years. Katherine is dead, so is Serene. And you hate me because you loved her, and you torture me because you still do. And that, my brother, is your humanity." Stefan said faking a grin.

"Salvatore! What the hell?" Mr. Tanner walked over joining them. "We've got a game to play."

"If that's my humanity, then what's this?" Damon asked rushing towards Mr. Tanner quickly, growling into his neck, drinking him dry until he fell onto his knees, being permanently dead as Damon turned back to his brother, blood was dripping down his chin and he looked like a completely real monster.

"No!"

"Anyone, anything, any place." Damon growled and left in a blur.

Meanwhile, Matt was using his shoes while Tyler was still looking inside his locker and thought of something to say to him. "Tanner's, M.I.A. I think he had a little bit too much beer."

"Don't talk to me right now, alright? I'm pissed at you." Matt snapped.

"What's your problem?" Tyler asked cluelessly.

"What's my... _You_'re my problem! Alright? You're a bully, a freakin' 12-year-old bully, man, and I'm sick of it."

"Dude." Tyler shook his head defensively.

"I mean what was that about tonight? What's beating up the new guy going to prove?" Matt asked, being extremely pissed. "Or screwing with my sister and my girlfriend's sister at the same time or pummelling my girlfriend's kid brother?"

"Girlfriend?" Tyler asked sarcastically. "Look, I don't know how to tell you this, but she dumped your ass for that new guy."

Matt was impatient, shoving him against the lockers. He was shocked, "Are you for real?! You want to hit me? I'm on your team!"

"This was over the line. Even for you." Matt said disappointed as he walked away looking for his coach, and when he got outside, he looked around when he saw a dead body laying lifelessly on the ground. When he got closer, he recognized it was Mr. Tanner, and he noticed a large bite on his neck like Vicki's. "Somebody help!" He rushed back in yelling to get help from whoever.

The ambulance came, taking Mr. Tanner's body as the police was checking on the area where he was found dead and they would obviously make sure this was an animal attack, like always. Bonnie was there watching, and then suddenly she noticed the three numbers she had been writing on her note pad this morning. She flickered to the lisence plate, it was BLDG 8, and the immatricualtion's car was FHT 14, and on the ground she spotted the number 22. Was she really a witch? Or was this just a coincidence? She started to felt incredibly terrified.

* * *

Alex walked into the house, exhausted, seeing her aunt was sitting alone in the dinning room before she went upstairs to her room. She thought she could grab a drink while asking about her aunt condition. "Hey aunt Jenna," Alex said walking over to the kitchen and grabbed a drink.

"Welcome back home, Alex." Jenna smiled gently to her.

Alex's eyes flickered down to her, scanning if she was fine there alone, wondering if she needed company. "Hey... you okay?"

"Yeah. Still thinking about your brother."

Alex realized how much her aunt gave a lot of effort to make the family better, she even thought about Jeremy who was troubled, she was a very good aunt and guardian of them. It was kinda sad for Alex to know she had to take care of the three of them alone. She knew it was hard. She suddenly came toward Jenna and gave her a hug. "It's okay, aunt Jenna. He will be okay. Don't worry... go to sleep, okay? Don't think about something too much or else you'll get sick."

Jenna nodded and hugged her back. "I will. After Elena come home. Thank you, Alex."

"No worries." Alex breathed out while turning to the staircase but paused on her way for a while. "Mr. Tanner is found dead tonight. I wonder why... everything gets worse after mom and dad died."

"Really? I'm sorry for him. Anyway, Lex, you should head to sleep and stop thinking too much about something as well. You're still young and you can't be like me," Jenna said chuckling softly while placing her chin on her hand watching her niece slowly walking upstairs.

"Yeah. Okay... night auntie. I love you." She smiled while walking upstairs and headed to the room immediately. Jenna was smiling, it has been long since she called her with the word '_auntie_' and she was happy with that nick. It made her smile the whole night.

Late night, Damon stood near the corner watching Alex very peacefully on her bed. She looked just like Serene and if he got to admit... she was looking very beautiful and she was like a nicer version of his ex. Damon smiled at himself as he caressed her flawless soft face gently, his urge of touching every inch of her body was boiling inside him, but he tried resisting every of them, for now.

Alex suddenly awoke from her sleep and turned the light on since she felt someone was there inside her room and she could feel something touching her cheek, but there was no one, and that must have just been a dream. She muttered while turning the lamp off again, grabbing her pillow and hug it to sleep.

"Good night, Alexandra Rosette Gilbert." Damon whispered while still watching her from his hiding place which make it safer to watch her quietly.

* * *

**A/N**: Hey lovelies! I would like to say big thanks to everyone who follows and favs this story, even reviewing the last two chapters... hoping you can do the same to this third chappie!

As story starts running, you may expect more Dalex (Damon and Alex) moments and feels from now!

**S/O** to **Forever Fanfiction Lover22**, **Guest** and **CSalvatore123** for reviewing the second chapter. Thank you so much!

**Carla x**


	4. Chapter 4: Family Ties

**Chasing Perfection**  
Season 1  
**Chapter 4**: Family Ties

* * *

_Alex jolted awake from her sleep when she heard a loud noise coming from down the stairs, she wondered who was awake in the middle of the night. With her eyes half-open, she slowly walked outside her room to check and she was kinda scared because everything was almost too dark and quiet as if she lived alone. Who might be there in the house? Why it was dark and quiet?_

_"Elena?" She called out for her sister, hoping she would come out from her room._

_"Alex, what is it?" Elena finally came out, her eyes were as well half open._

_"Don't you hear the noises?" She turned to her sister and took her hands while slowly walking near the stairs. "Jeremy? Jenna?"_

_When they were downstairs, they went silent for a while and looked around where they saw their TV was still on in the family room. Both sisters exchanged gazes to each other as fear twisted in their eyes, their bodies literally shivered as they were about to turn it off, until something caught their attention._

_"This is Logan Fell coming to you live from the streets of Mystic Falls with breaking news of another wild deadly animal attack," they saw a dashing new reported informed. "The wild animal terrorizing the citizens of Mystic Falls has claimed another victims, a local high school students _Elena_ and _Alexandra_ Gilbert. Police are certain that forensic evidence will confirm that this is the same animal responsible for recent attacks."_

_"You know what's coming next." Damon said darkly from behind them. When they turned around and saw him, they were shocked and scared and immediately ran. When Alex opened the front door, he was there. She slam the door shut and pulled her older sister upstairs to her room, jumping onto her bed to find her phone. But she heard her sister screaming behind her. Damon was biting her neck and growling violently onto it. "No! Elena!" Alex screamed._

_Watching him sucking her sister to dry, Alex took a few steps backward until she reached the corner of her room. She saw him approaching with a dangerous smirk but she didn't give up yet, she ran for the door. Too bad, he caught her faster than she thought he would as she felt sharp teeth was sunk into her neck and gave her an extremely painful sensation and then killed her._

Stefan suddenly awoken from his nightmare with a loud and surprised gasp, he was sweating all over his body, but was relieved that it was just a dream. He took a deep breath and let it out while staring up to the ceiling for a few seconds and thought about the nightmare he just had.

"Bad dream?" Damon, his older brother, asked while sitting on his desk with a playful smirk. "Do you know how easy it was to get into your head just now? You really need some human blood. It might even the playing field. Football reference. Too soon."

Moving in a quick blur, Stefan grabbed a knife from the table and threw it to his brother and hit him in the stomach, though it didn't give him a severe effect, he pulled it out. "Alright, I deserved that. But I just wanted to let you know, they caught the culprit. The animal responsible for killing coach Tanner and all those people."

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked, being surprised with what his brother had revealed to him.

"It was a mountain lion. A really big one. It attacked a hunter this morning. It's all over the news. "_Deadly beast captured, all's well in Mystic Falls_."" Damon purred sarcastically to Stefan.

"Why would you cover your tracks?" Stefan asked again knowing he had something to do with all these.

"I've decided to stay for a while. And I'm just having way too much fun here with Alex." Damon said while walking toward the window and thought about Alex.

"Can't touch her now," Stefan reminded him, taunting him with a smug look, knowing that he couldn't do anything about it.

"Well, the vervain keeps me out of her head. Maybe that's not my target. Believe it or not, Stefan, some girls don't need my persuasion. Some girls just can't resist my good looks, my style, my charm and my unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift." Damon sped toward Stefan and stabbed him in the stomach with the same knife. Stefan groaned in pain and fell on his knees, it hurt him more than it hurt Damon earlier because he drank humans blood, and Stefan only drank animals blood.

"This is John Varvatos, dude. Dick move." Damon looked over his shirt and was pissed off that Stefan has ruined his favorite shirt and then left the room.

When his brother left, Stefan retrieved the knife from his stomach and let his wound to heal. He started writing on his journal and heard Sheriff Forbes talking on his television, and immediately catching his attention at the moment.

"I can confirm that it was a 12ft Puma Mountain Lion attacked a hunter and was subsequently shot and killed, the hunter is in stable condition." Sheriff Forbes confirmed on the news.

**The real animal is still out there. Waiting for me. Challenging me to fight back, to stop him. But how do I stop him without becoming a monster myself?** Stefan wrote into his journal and remained silent for a couple of minutes, thinking about the whole things happened and what he had written in his journal.

* * *

"To repeat, the animal terrorizing Mystic Falls has been caught."

Jenna was preparing breakfast in the kitchen when she saw a familiar man she recognize on TV, Logan Fell, a reporter from local news. Behind her, there were her nieces who was doing and talking random things together but they were interrupted when Jenna said something slightly in mutters.

"Who is she talking with?" Elena frowned while looking at her aunt.

"I don't know, her boyfriend maybe?" Alex joked and grabbed a piece of cookie from cookies jar on table while following her sister to peek their aunt.

"Scum ball," Jenna said. "Scum bucket."

"Scum_what_?" Alex glared at her sister and then looking back to her aunt with a frown. "Auntie, who are you talking to?"

"Him." Jenna pointed to the screen with a disgusted face.

"The news guy?" Elena prompted.

"Also known as Logan Scum Fell." Jenna said upsetly and then flickered to her nieces, "Did your mom ever tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?"

"Wait... what?" Alex widened her eyes, knowing she was thinking what her aunt was trying to say about her reason to move from the town.

"No way! You and him?" Elena giggled.

"He is cute." Alex said, tilting her head while teasing her aunt.

Jenna looked away from TV and back to work because she didn't want to waste her time just to talk about the guy she was pissed off about. "He is not cute. There is nothing cute about him," she said before seeing both her nieces were taking out some antiques from a box. "What are you doing with that?"

Elena explained to her aunt. "I went yesterday and got it from the safe deposit box. Mom had told Mrs. Lockwood she would loan it to the founder's council for their heritage display."

"Is that Grandma Beth's wedding ring?" Jenna asked picking up a pretty ring while noticing her nephew walked joining them while looking at each items on the box.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Alex smiled while looking at the ring her aunt held in her hands.

"Yeah." Jenna nodded.

The oldest Gilbert sister informed, pointing to the ring she Jenna was holding. "Yes, it is. Originally, it was great, great, grandma Mary's wedding ring."

"How much do you think this stuff is worth? You know, like on eBay?" Jeremy asked while taking something out from the box which caught his interest, scanning the item on his hand.

"Seriously, Jer? What are you gonna do about it, selling it online to get some money?" Alex rolled her eyes, taking the item from his hand and placed it carefully back to the box.

Elena sighed. "You're not gonna find out, Jeremy."

"That stuff is mom and dad's. You can't just give it away." Jeremy walked over the fridge and opened to see what was inside.

"I'm not giving it away. It's called a loan." Elena explained to Jeremy.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Alex walked towards the door and swung the door open to see Stefan was standing in front of her, casually. "Oh hey, Stefan. I'll call her," she said smirking while walking back inside to call her sister.

Stefan grabbed her arm, stopped her from what she was doing. "Before you call her... I need to know if you are doing fine?"

"I'm okay, Stefan. I really am." She replied calmly, trying to convince him that she was okay with everything that happened since yesterdays.

"Alright," Stefan smiled before she saw her smiling back and walking back inside, this time he stopped her again from what she was doing. "Anyway, Damon told me what he was trying to do the other night. Sorry, he was over the line."

"Yeah, he really was." Alex nodded with a frustrated sigh remembering about what happened the other night when Damon tried to do to her. It was strange. "Thank you for concerning though, you are really a good guy. I'll call her now."

He nodded in reply, watching her walking further into the kitchen and heard her talking to her sister. "Elena, your boyfriend is here."

Stefan only chuckled softly before he noticed Elena walked out from the kitchen and approached the door where he was standing.

"Hey." He greeted.

"Hey." She replied while pulling him into her house and took him upstairs, heading to her room.

"Did she just took him upstairs?" Jeremy frowned while looking at both his aunt and twin sister, gesturing to his older sister and her boyfriend who was walking upstairs earlier.

"Yes, she did. Glad you have eyes, brother." Alex said placing the antiques back into the box, not looking at her brother yet. She suddenly found something sparkling on the table, it was small and beautiful, and she recognized it. "This is Elena's earring. I'm going to give this back to her, wait here."

She ran upstairs leaving her brother and aunt, holding an earring in her hand. When she swung the door open, she was surprised when she saw Elena was making out with Stefan on the bed. "Oh my god... sorry. I, uh, I found this on the dining table and I'm just going to give it back to you. Sorry, I should've knock first."

Elena rubbed her ears and realized one of her earring was not there. She immediately got up from the bed, grabbed the earring from her sister and smiled.

"Wow, I could've lose it. Thank you, Lex."

With that, Alex smiled and left.

Elena breathed out in relief while trying to put her earring back when she noticed Stefan was looking away, stiffly, unusual. "Stefan?" She walked to him but he kept turning away. "Are you okay?"

It was his eyes, that last time when he looked at himself in the mirror, his eyes changed. Lucky, Elena didn't notice the changes at all. He took a deep breath as his eyes went back to normal again. "I'm good, sorry." He apologised.

"Sorry my sister interrupted." Elena said rubbing his neck as a smile lingered across her lips. "But well, maybe we should press pause."

Stefan turned around, knowing that his face went back to normal, he smiled. "Yeah, you're probably right. That was getting a bit..."

"Yeah." Elena nodded.

Stefan smiled repeating her. "Yeah."

Moving from the comfortable bed, he walked near the window seat where she usually would write a diary.

"How do you look in a suit?" She wondered.

"I can pull one off." Stefan replied smirking.

"How about tomorrow night? Will you be my date to the Founders party?" She asked him, hoping he would accept her request as she didn't have anyone to be her date for the party later.

"They still do that?" Stefan asked, recalling the moments when he went into this type of party earlier.

Elena was curious. "Have you been before?"

"No, the Salvatores don't get invited anymore." Stefan said saving himself with a slight hesitant smile.

"Well, this year, there's this heritage project that means a lot to my mom, she's really involved in the founders council and it's her favourite party, I know it sounds really boring, but..."

"I would be honored to accompany you, Miss Gilbert." He said pretending to be a man in the 80s, accepting her request to go to the party with her, because he knew deep down inside... he couldn't refuse her request, too.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Salvatore." She smirked while playing along with him by acting like a lady in the 80s as well. And then chuckled.

Downstairs, Alex was helping her aunt cleaning the counters in the kitchen and tidying it while seeing her brother was there sitting on the dining chair and checking some antiques again in the box she had already tidied earlier. As soon as she was done, she approached him and watched him holding those antiques carefully. "What are you doing there?" She leaned her body on the chair he was sitting on and folded her arms defensively.

"Looking at these stuffs, they look pretty." Jeremy said with honesty, still looking at the antiques.

"Yeah. They are," Alex agreed. "But that doesn't mean you can sell them online and get money, you know?"

Jeremy made a face and gave her a look, tired of her accusing him again and over again. "I'm not going to sell it online, okay? Stop accusing me like a bad guy, I'm your brother and you're supposed to trust me."

"I do trust you-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Jeremy already left and headed upstairs with an upset expression, not giving her any chance to talk more. She let out a deep sigh as she placed the antiques Jeremy took out back to the box and closed it, trying not to think about his behaviour toward her way too much. While placing the box on the cupboard, her eyes stopped and saw her silver bracelet on her wrist which was given by her boyfriend, Tyler, on their first date.

"Tyler is really a sweet guy, huh?" Jenna teased with a smile while standing next to her and flickered down to her bracelet.

"He is. That's why I love him, auntie." She replied smiling to Jenna.

"That's good, Alex." Jenna nodded, smiling back. "You know... It's been long since you called me auntie. I'm happy."

"Yeah. I miss how often I called you that, guess I'm gonna have to get used with calling you auntie more often!" She grinned giving her aunt a warm hug and showed a smile toward her again.

* * *

Meanwhile, Caroline was in her room, trying on a bright yellow mini-dress for the Founder's party later. Damon was lying down on her bed while reading a Twilight Saga book. She turned around to get his opinion about the dress she was wearing.

"No yellow. Jaundice. Go for the blue." Damon told her but not looking at her yet.

"I don't like the blue." She complained.

"Well, I do, and if I'm going to be your date─"

"You are not going to be my date." She said. "My mother is going to be there, and she is a very proud gun owner.

"I went through a lot of trouble to make sure this party wasn't cancelled. It's very important I be there, please take me." Damon said, looking deep into her eyes, and compelled her.

"You should come to the Founder's party with me." She invited him.

Damon creased his brows, manipulating her. "Not if you are wearing that dress. Go change into something else."

Caroline paused, glaring at him before she pulled the dress off and let it fell down the ground as she walked over her closet to find the blue dress he told her to use for the party.

"What's so special about this Bella girl? Edward's so whipped." Damon rolled his eyes, criticizing the book he was reading.

"Well... you gotta read the first book first, it won't make sense if you don't." Caroline replied while pulling on the blue mini-dress and walked towards the mirror to adjust her dress in her body.

"Ah, I miss Anne Rice. She was so on it." Damon sighed heavily.

"How come you don't sparkle?" Caroline asked curiously while comparing him with the vampires she read on the books.

"Because I live in the real world, where vampires burn in the sun." Damon stated bluntly answering her question.

"Yeah, but you go in the sun." She countered, creasing her brows, trying to understand why he was different from the sparkling vampires in the book.

"I have a ring," he held up his hand and showed a ring on his finger while still reading the Twilight book. "Protects me. Long story."

Caroline turned aside and looked at the bitemarks on her shoulder through the mirror, worried. "Will these bites turn me into a vampire?"

When she turned around, he was closing the book while rolling his eyes. "It's more complicated than that. You'd have to feed on my blood, then die, then feed on human's blood... it's a whole ordeal."

"This book, by the way has it all wrong." He added while throwing the book to the ground and watched her walking closer to him. Suddenly, he grabbed her and threw her over the bed underneath him and made him on top of her and started kissing her neck gently, pleasing her.

"You can be very sweet when you want to be." Caroline moaned, smiling at him.

"Yes, I can be sweet." He purred seductively onto her neck and gave her more pleasure.

"Are you going to kill me?" She asked in worry and fear.

"Mhm." He murmured, nodding slowly as he brushed her hair gently. "But not yet."

She asked again. "Why not?"

"Because there is something I need you to do for me." He muttered, thinking about a plan he had in mind since long and he wanted to make it work.

"Anything." She promised.

"How good are you at getting this nose where it doesn't belong?" He saw her smiling as he touched the tip of her nose.

"Oh, I'm excellent." She replied with a bright smile.

"Mmm." Damon moaned softly, and then kissed her.

* * *

On the Mystic Grill, Tyler sat with his parents while eating their lunch and talked about the season. However, he was thinking about Alex and didn't really pay attention to anything in particular.

"So what happens with the season? One big forfeit? Are they looking for a new coach?" His father asked.

"I don't know, dad." Tyler replied to his father. "I doubt anybody's really thinking about that right now."

"Charles, founder's party, focus." Mrs. Lockwood said reminding her husband.

Suddenly, Vicki came over the table with a smile while holding a teapot. "So, how are you all doing here?"

"We're doing great, sweetheart." Mr. Lockwood replied simply to the young female, hiding the dislike when he saw her looking at his son in that way.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" Vicki purred while grabbing his glass and filled it with water from the teapot trying to get his attention, but not noticing how his parents were glaring at her at the moment.

Tyler was uncomfortable, trying to make her leave from his sight. "We're fine, thanks."

"Just the check, honey." Mr. Lockwood slightly smiled to the girl and glared at his son when Vicki left to bring the check. He never liked the girl, so did his wife.

"Here you go, Mayor Lockwood." Vicki said, passed him the check politely with a smile.

"Thanks." He answered, taking the check.

Meanwhile, both Caroline and Bonnie were walking into the grill and looking for empty seats while talking about the Founder's party and their partners later. "You are taking Damon to the Founder's party?" Bonnie asked in disbelief. "What about me?"

Caroline turned to her and practically replied. "Go with Elena."

"She's asking Stefan." Bonnie told her. Basically, she was going to the party all alone knowing that everybody she was close with were having their own partners.

"Oh. Well, go with Alex!" Caroline suggested again.

"Alex is definitely going with Tyler."

"And what if she don't?" Caroline breathed out while tilting her head, and then made a face. She was acting weird and different lately, Bonnie felt this but couldn't exactly explain about it.

"She is definitely going with him. They are dating. Who else will she invite to the party?" Bonnie replied assuring the blond best friend.

Caroline rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Okay, then you go by yourself. Simple!"

"Gee, thanks." Bonnie accepted forcefully and rolled her eyes as well regarding to the respond she received from her best friend which was irritating. "What about your mom? Is she okay with you bringing Damon?"

"And I'm suppose to care why?" Caroline asked. She shrugged her shoulder, carelessly, because all she knew was that she was deeply in love with him.

"He's older, sexy, danger guy." Bonnie said and tried her best to make her friend convinced that she'd better leave the guy she was hooking up with. Something made her feel like this and she didn't know exactly why... she was only sure that he was dangerous to be a company.

Caroline rolled her eyes sarcastically again, she didn't believe in what Bonnie said about her boyfriend who was obviously perfect to her. "Older, sexy, danger guy? Is that an official witch twitter tweet?"

"No more witch jokes, alright? That whole Mr. Tanner prediction thing has got me totally freaked." Bonnie replied quietly, yet terrified about what happened to her the other night when she noticed something on the location where Mr. Tanner was found dead.

"Okay." Caroline nodded before pausing herself. "And Damon's not dangerous. You know, he just has a lot of issues with his brother, like major deep-rooted drama."

"Like?" Bonnie creased her brows lightly, curious of what Caroline was trying to tell her.

"I'm not really supposed to say anything..." Caroline then remembered that he told her to be careful not to spit it to some random people, and looked at the menu, trying to exchange subjects.

Bonnie was shocked, because Caroline sounded like a completely different person. The Caroline she knew was blunt and all that, not secretive."Caroline Forbes, when have you ever kept a secret in your life?"

"Okay, but you can't tell Elena. Especially Alex!" Caroline negotiated.

Bonnie replied but at the same time not sure if she would be able to keep it from the sisters. But she promised to her anyway. "Okay. I won't."

On another table, when his parents left, Tyler followed Vicki to the bar tables and decided to have a little chat because they hadn't have chats for a long time yet he wanted to be a better person, not that guy who dumped a girl and then left. At least he was trying to be. "How are you? I mean... you're good, aren't you?" He asked though still feeling stiff and uncomfortable around her.

"Yeah." Vicki hissed. She was upset about how he treated her since they were dating until they broke up, even until now. "Do I look like I'm not? You can leave, I'm working."

"Sorry if I'm disturbing you. I'm just wondering because I asked you the other day, but you gave me this dismissive attitude, like you think I don't care." He shrugged, trying to explain and make things clear between them, but still wanting to be friends with her.

She glared at him and replied. "You don't."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You treat me like trash, since we were dating until we broke up. Even until now! I'm sick of it." She replied bluntly because deep down inside, she knew she was kinda hoping he would treat her like he treated his girlfriend even if just once.

"I don't think you're trash." Tyler said defending himself.

"Really?" Vicki was unconvinced, she knew he didn't really mean that. "Who are you taking to the founder's party?"

"Uh, Alex." He awkwardly answered but formed a small smile. "How about you?"

"Exactly, _her_." She said smugly, started collecting glasses from the tables and quit looking at him. She lose all her hopes. "I'm not going. It will be stupid and lame."

"You are welcome to join the party, Vick. Seriously. Even if you are coming alone."

"Please just go. Okay? We're done talking here." She snapped.

"Fine." Tyler agreed with sarcasm, losing his patient of talking to her and seeking peace with her. "Be all alone with your kid new boyfriend, Jeremy. You look cute together, no wonder."

"Go away, Tyler." She raised her voice.

Jeremy was there the whole time and overhearing their conversation earlier. Before leaving, he approached Vicki to say something. "You realize you had to ask him to as you, right? You figure if you dress up like a respectable young lady, he'll finally treat you like one?"

"Screw you, Jeremy." She hissed, though she knew he was right.

"You know you're making the wrong choice, yet you make it anyway." Jeremy said shaking his head and started to walk away slowly. "It's sad."

* * *

**Salvatore Boarding House**

Zach walked into the living room and found Damon was sitting on the couch while reading a book belonged to his brother. He was quite surprised to see Damon during the day, but he knew he had something he was up to. "I didn't know you were here." He said, irritated.

"Just going through Stefan's homework. Boy, this country sure has dumbed down in the last hundred years. Why he wants to go to high school is beyond me. I mean, in the seventies, he went Ivy League. Harvard, I understood. Actually, no. I didn't get that either." Damon thought about Stefan's idea of going to school. "Go ahead, purge. Get it out. What's on your mind?"

"Why are you here, Damon?" Zach asked.

"To spend time with you, Zach. Family's important." Damon lied as a smile lingered across his lips when he closed the book.

"I know you." Zach started. "You always have a motive. So tell me, what is it this time?"

Damon disliked how he talked. He stood up and moved in a blur, sped across to Zach and grabbed him by his neck as he gapsed out of breath.

"You are in no position to question me." Damon said glared at him darkly.

"I- I didn't mean to upset you!" Zach choked out of his words and tried hard to release himself from Damon who choked him way too hard that he couldn't breathe.

"This is not upset, Zach." Damon smirked dangerously not caring if Zach was a human ─ he kept gripping on Zach's neck.

"What's going on?" Stefan appeared behind while walking closer to Damon and Zach. Damon immediately let go of Zach's neck and dropped him on the floor, caused him to grunt in pain as he rubbed his neck.

"Having a family moment, Stefan. Spending some quality time." Damon wiggled his eyebrows calmly like nothing had happened and patted Zach on the shoulder before leaving the house.

"Hey, are you okay?" Stefan asked, being worried about his nephew, while helping him.

"No, I'm not." Zach snapped firmly. "And neither are you. How many more people have to die before you see that?"

"I see it." Stefan countered. "Alright, Zach, I see it."

"Then why aren't you doing anything about it?"

"I can't, Zach. I can't." Stefan replied shortly. "It would take human blood that would be the only way to stop him, and I can't do that."

"The vervain could weaken him if he ingested it." Zach suggested. His voice was still noticeably shaking. "It would help get you the upper hand."

"Vervain hasn't grown here since 1865, Damon saw to that. The little I had, I gave to Elena. And someone gave it to Alex too." Stefan explained but paused himself when he sensed Zach was trying to give him something important. "What?"

Zach led Stefan to the cellar and then opened the wooden door, revealing a homemade vervain plantation inside it which made Stefan quite surprised.

"You've been growing it..." Stefan said.

"It's just something that's been passed down through the generations. Blood only runs so deep when you're related to Vampires." Zach replied quietly because he was afraid that Damon would be around and overhear them. "Damon would kill me if he knew that I had it."

"But you're telling me." Stefan was confused, asking him while looking at the healthily grown vervains. "Why?"

"Because I trust you." Zach admitted honestly before leaving the cellar. "And you're gonna need if you want to get rid of him."

* * *

It was now afternoon. Bonnie came over to the Gilberts house to visit the sisters who were once again checking on antiques from the loan box in the dining area. She wondered, joining the sisters looking at the antiques because it caught her interest. "What's all these stuffs?"

"It's a box of old stuffs for the Founder's party heritage display. And it's originally owned by our mother and ancestors." Alex explained, breathing out heavily and ate a piece of cookie again, she loved cookies which reminded her of her mother because she used to bought her a lot of cookies. "They look beautiful, right?"

"Yeah, but why did you brought it here? I mean, that's supposed to be prepared in the Founder's hall from now right?" Bonnie frowned slightly, wondering why were they bringing antiques here.

This time, the oldest sister took the chance to reply the best friend with a smile. "We were just borrowing and Mrs. Lockwood said yes about it. So here it is."

While having quality time and scanning antiques, they heard the doorbell rang. Alex was going actually going to open the door, but when she saw her twin walking down the stairs, she asked him to open it instead of doing it herself. "Check on that, Jer," she said. "Please."

"Alright." Jeremy reluctantly nodded and walked to the door and then opened it. Too bad, Tyler was the one who rang the doorbell. Jeremy immediately tried to close the door but Tyler held it open. "I'm here for my mom. I was supposed to pick up a box of stuff."

"Oh, right here! Wait." Alex put the cookie on her mouth as she put the antiques back in the box and carried it to Tyler. "Please be careful."

"Yeah, be careful with it, dick." Jeremy gestured to the box Tyler was holding and provoked him.

"Hey! Not now, okay, guys? Please?" Alex pleaded glaring at both her boyfriend and brother with flat expression. It was enough to witness them fighting and listened to them insulting eachother, she was always worried when they fought. "I'm tired of all these. Please, just stop."

"I'm fine. He's just being a punk." Tyler replied calmly and pointed to Jeremy. He didn't want to fight, to be honest, because he knew she wouldn't like it.

"I got your punk." Jeremy hissed sarcastically.

"Look, Tyler, maybe you should go. I'll see you later tonight. Send my love to your mother." Alex told her boyfriend and smiled before she walked back inside the house to join her sister and friend.

"Hey, would it make a difference if I told you I actually have tried to be nice with Vicki?" Tyler asked.

"Not even if you meant it." Jeremy replied darkly and shut the door on his face.

"Teenagers drama again?" Bonnie asked grinning to Alex while Elena was getting a piece of tissue and put them on the table. Jeremy suddenly shouted "I heard that!" while walking upstairs to his room, which was surprising them at the moment that he was still there, overhearing them.

"Oops." Bonnie giggled.

"Jeremy hates Tyler just because of Vicki. I think. It's silly I know, but I'm tired of it." Alex said with a loud sigh and sat across them on a chair to continue eating cookies again.

"Okay. That's silly, I agree." Bonnie said grabbing two nail polish with different colors while reading the description of it. "Anyway, I need an opinion. Delicate flower vs. Naughty vixen?"

"Naughty vixen." Alex said smirking giving her opinion about the nail polish.

"Tough call. Can we mix them?" Elena said to her friend.

"Look at you, getting all pretty for your date. You seem happy-ish." Bonnie commented about her friend.

"I am...ish. Tonight's going to be a good night." Elena agreed. "But don't let that stop you from telling me whatever it is you wanted to tell me as soon as you walked in the door."

"What if I tell you in the morning? I don't want to ruin the night." Bonnie told them.

Alex smiled gently. "The night is absolutely going to be amazing. Just tell us now, Bonnie. It's okay."

"Yeah, Bonnie, out with it." Elena said pushing her friend to tell her what she was trying to tell them.

Bonnie surrendered, looking at her best friends and agreed to tell them about this. "Okay, but it has to go in the vault, because Caroline will kill me if it gets back to Damon that she squealed."

"Alright, alright. We get it." Alex rolled her eyes.

"Uh, apparently, Stefan has a very interesting back story." Bonnie started telling the sisters.

"Uh-huh?" Elena said, waiitng for her to continue.

"Do you know what happened with his ex-girlfriend?" Bonnie asked Elena.

"Mhm. Alex told me there was this fire tragedy that killed her and her younger sister," Elena paused to remember about what her sister told her from Damon the other night. "_Katherine_ and _Serene_, isn't it?"

"Exactly." Alex nodded.

"Yeah. Sisters with brothers. Damon with Serene, Stefan with Katherine. Apparently, the fire tragedy was because of Stefan and this is the reason why Damon hates him so much." Bonnie told them the story she got from the blond friend which was originally came from Damon.

"That sounds like one person's side of the story." Alex commented after listening to the story.

"Meaning Damon's." Elena added.

"You don't know why Stefan did that, do you?" Bonnie rolled her eyes looking at them.

She suddenly had their full attentions.

"Huh?" Alex asked, mouth hanging open.

"Bonnie, what?" Elena was suddenly getting interested to know what happened behind all the issues.

"Stefan and Damon had a deep siblings bond. They were loyal to each other, play games together. Until these two sisters came into their life. Stefan fell in love with the older sister and Damon fell in love with the younger sister. They never hang out anymore. Stefan finally decided to ask Damon to have some quality times together and let their girlfriends have their own, but Damon refused." Bonnie explained carefully because it was complicated even when she heard it from Caroline and she couldn't believe it was this complicated.

"So he was angry?" Alex guessed.

"Yeah. Stefan was angry and he suspected Serene have manipulated his brother, so he tried everything to break them up." Bonnie continued telling them the story, between believing it or not, it sounded so real. "He manipulated Katherine to turn her sister against Damon and he thought she cheated on him with Damon when she said she can't and didn't want to."

"What?" Elena frowned in disbelief.

"It's not over yet. Stefan then decided to manipulate Serene about Damon cheating on her with Katherine which made her turned against both Damon and Katherine. Stefan hated both sisters for screwing with him and his brother and then put them on fire on one night with Damon accidentally witnessing there." Bonnie told them, ending the story with that tragic fire tragedy thing.

"Wow." Alex let out a heavy breath and sank back onto her seat, feeling unsettled. "That was... complicated. It takes me almost one to understand all of them."

Bonnie shrugged. "Well, I just wanted you guys to know."

"I mean, I can't believe Stefan was very sadistic." Alex blinked a few times, continued eating her last piece of cookies from the jar and then closed it.

"He is not sadistic. He would never do something like that. He loved Katherine, didn't he?" Elena snapped defending her boyfriend while giving her sister a death glare. She sighed, suddenly thinking about the story her friend told her about Stefan and his past. "Anyway, his past relationships are none of my business."

"Unless he's a calculating, manipulative liar. That is your business." Bonnie replied while being busy with her nails.

"Stefan is none of those things." Elena affirmed defensively.

"Yeah? How do you know?" She asked Elena.

"You were never in his past, Elena. You never know, who knows it's the true story?" Alex tried telling her, making sure she chose the right decision that she wouldn't regret in the future. Elena shrugged rolling her eyes. Both Alex and Bonnie sighed and decided not to talk about them anymore.

* * *

Stefan was in his room drinking a glass of whisky while sitting on the chair, grabbing his black shoes when he saw Damon entering the room shirtless through the mirror. He wiped his shoes he was using for the party later while noticing his brother walking towards his wardrobe.

"Do they still wear ties to this thing?" Damon asked while walking opening the wardrobe and showed some ties in it.

"Why are you even going?" Stefan asked turning to his brother while putting on the shoes.

"It's only fitting, we were at the first one, remember?" He looked at him through the mirror while thinking about the past when they were celebrating the same day.

"I think it's better if we don't draw attention to ourselves." Stefan suggested with a calm smile and drank another gulp of the whisky.

"So, you should stay here. I'll see to it Alex and Elena has a good time." Damon replied while smirking and watching his brother drinking some gulps of whisky. "My goodness I've driven you to drink!"

"Can't seem to rid myself of you. What else am I supposed to do, besides go about living my life?" Stefan said to his brother defensively.

"Go about living my life. See, therein lies your eternal struggle. You're dead, dude. Get over it." Damon said to his brother sarcastically while holding up a tie in front of his firm chest. "Anyway, what do you think?"

* * *

Bonnie, Alex and Elena were inside the bathroom while getting prepared for the party. Bonnie was doing her hair while Alex was applying eyeshadow and Elena was using mascara for her eyelashes. Suddenly Elena's phone rang and distracted them. "Okay, that's so distracting." Elena said while walking to her bedroom and answered her phone.

"Hello?" Elena greeted. "Hey, Mrs. Lockwood. What do you mean? It is? Are you sure? Because I saw it."

Elena sighed while looking at her sister who was leaning on the door, crossing her arms. "Let me check. Mhm, we will find it and bring it. Okay, bye." She said, dropping the phone on her bed after she hung up.

"What is it?" Alex asked.

"The pocket watch is not in the box." Elena placed her hand on her head, sighing frustratedly.

Alex remembered of something. She saw her twin brother taking antiques from the box while she was helping Jenna this morning, he must have stole the watch. Elena looked at her and widened her eyes—as if they had the same thought—and then both stormed to Jeremy's room.

"Um, guys? What's wrong?" Bonnie asked, confused.

"Ah! God, what now?" Jeremy asked after Elena hit his head.

"The pocket watch. Where is it?" Elena asked, crossing her arms while watching him struggled to untangle his ears from the headphone.

"What watch?" Jeremy replied, playing dumb.

"Don't play dumb." Alex rolled her eyes. "The watch you stole from mom's box. Look, Mrs. Lockwood just called Elena, it was obviously on the list, Jeremy. It's important and now she can't find it. She thinks she's the one that lost it."

"Then maybe she did." He shrugged. "Maybe, uh, Tyler took it."

"He wouldn't." Alex snapped.

"How do you know?" He glared at her. She didn't answer.

"Come on, Jer. Don't even play that card. You took it, didn't you? If I go online, am I going to find it on eBay? Is that how you pay for your pot?" Elena scolded him while still waiting for him to admit and give her the watch and placed her palms on her waist.

"Screw you." He hissed and walked pass by Elena to the book case where he hid the pocket watch. "I would never sell this, okay?"

"Then why did you take it?" Elena asked confused.

"Because it's supposed to be mine. Dad said it goes to the firstborn son. His father gave it to him, and now what?" He said and grabbed Elena's hand agressively while placing the watch on it.

"He hadn't give it up to you..." Elena finished what her brother trying to say.

"Yeah." Jeremy said sitting down on his chair and put his headphone back on his ears.

Before leaving, Elena paused and turned around to her brother. "Look Jeremy. It's still yours, okay? Mom promised it to Mrs. Lockwood. What do you want me to do?"

"Just take it and get out." He said bluntly, barely looking at her.

"Jeremy, sorry." Alex said rubbing his shoulder, regretful, because she didn't know it was supposed to be given to the firstborn son.

Jeremy push her hand off his shoulder. He scowled to her upsetly. "Go away, go get back prepared to the party. I'm okay. Just leave me alone."

Alex let out a heavy breath and walked away from the room, looking at him for the last time before closing the door.

* * *

Back to Stefan's room, Damon was still looking at himself in the mirror, this time already with a shirt on. "It's cool not growing old. I like being the eternal stud."

"Yes, being a one hundred and fifty years old teenage has been the height of my happiness." He quipped in a mock manner to his brother.

"You cracked a funny, Stefan, I should have a drink and celebrate." Damon smirked and walked over the table to see a picture of Serene and Katherine. He ran his fingers over Serene's flawless face on the picture and smiled at it because the picture reminded him of the past he had with Serene, his ex-girlfriend. "_1864_, you and Katherine were the perfect couple."

Stefan scoffed. "Shall I tell you the same about you and Serene?"

"No need. It was hell watching Serene dance with another man. I left the party early, I was waiting for her, the night he dropped her off, I was just waiting inside. He was such a gentleman, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and what she really wanted was... oh, well. Here's to history repeating itself, huh?" Damon smirked pouring whisky into the glass and brought it to his lips and smelled the drink and he discovered that it was spiked with vervain. He tilted the glass, dumping the contents on the ground.

"I admire your efforts, Stefan. Pouring yourself a drink then spiking the bottle with vervain... I'm not some drunk sorority chick. You can't roofie me." Damon was satisfied to spill Stefan's plan. Yet he got angry and upset because of him for spiking the drink. "But I can't help but feel a little used. I though we were having a moment. Now I have to go to the party angry, who knows what I'll do?"

* * *

Alex and Bonnie both arrived in Lockwood Mansion while walking to the entrance. Tyler and his parents were there greeting the attendants who were coming. He saw her and smiled widely.

"Alex! Oh my god, you look pretty." Carol Lockwood said hugging her and smiled.

"Thank you, Mrs. Lockwood." Alex giggled as she pulled away from the hug and walked towards Richard to shake his hands.

The Mayor, Richard Lockwood, was smiling at the girl and shook her hands. "Tyler," he turned to his son. "Bring her in."

"Okay, dad." Tyler nodded at his father. He smiled to Alex and grabbed her hand, gesturing to walk inside with him to explore the heritage display and other stuffs. "Let's go."

"Bonnie, you'll be okay?" She paused before walking further with her boyfriend.

"Yeah. I'll be okay. Go ahead." Bonnie smiled in agreement.

Alex smiled and waved at Bonnie while following her boyfriend further into the mansion, looking around and accidentally noticed Damon was also there. She looked away. "Sorry about Jeremy. He is messed up and you know that." She sighed looking at Tyler.

"It doesn't matter. You know I was a dick. He hates me for that reason." Tyler replied, kissing her head while looking around before looking back at her. "I'm sorry for not picking you up as well. My mom and dad made me welcoming the coming attendants."

She chuckled. "It's okay, I went with Bonnie."

"Alright, let's look around." He decided while pulling her hands to a room for heritage display. She agreed and a list of the original Founder's party registry caught her attention for a while.

"Is this a list of..."

"Yeah. Original Founder's Party registry." He smiled and let her reading the list.

Carefully, she read each names on the list while leaning closer to read it clearly. "Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood," she mentioned them outloud while reading the name below Benjamin. "Wait. Is that Damon and Stefan... Salvatore?!"

"The original Salvatore Brothers. Our ancestors. Sorry for interrupting you two." Damon's voice suddenly appear behind them as he was walking inside with Caroline. He smirked. "Mind if I borrow Alex for some chat, Tyler Lockwood?"

"Let them have some talk, Tyler. Let's dance with me because Damon didn't want to. Come on!" Caroline said smugly and take Tyler outside to the dance floor, holding his hand.

"I haven't... gee, _bitch_." Alex rolled her eyes watching them walking away. Her mouth dropped open to say something, but words stuck in her throat.

"Oopsie. Calm there." Damon smirked. "I'm sure he'll be fine with Caroline. You and me, we can talk. First things first... I want to apologize to you for being such a world-class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you, there's no excuse. My therapist says I'm acting out, trying to punish Stefan."

"For what?" Alex wondered.

"It's all in the past, I don't even want to bring it up, let's just say the men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry. And it all started with the original Salvatore brothers." Damon explained, replying to her question and gestured to the registry list.

On the dance floor outside the heritage room, Tyler forcefully danced with Caroline since his girlfriend was borrowed for a private chat. Stefan and Elena suddenly approached them. "Tyler, where's Alex? Why are you dancing with Caroline?" Elena frowned, surprised to see Tyler dancing with someone else and not her sister.

"Caroline's boyfriend borrows her for chat." Tyler replied upsetly while pulling away from Caroline since he didn't want to dance with her.

Elena narrowed her eyes. "Do you mean Damon?"

"Yes, Elena. It's Damon. Who else?" Caroline said with an attitude while smiling smugly. "He asked me to take Tyler to dance with me while he is talking to Alex."

Stefan and Elena glanced to eachother.

"Tyler, can I talk to you alone?" Elena smiled to Tyler.

Having no choice, Tyler nodded. "Yeah, okay."

"Uh. Okay, Caroline, would you like champagne?" Stefan asked while grabbing two glasses of champagne from the table and offered the blond female.

"Sure, just tell me if you see my mom." She accepted his offer.

Inside the heritage room, Damon and Alex were still having conversations. He watched her walking around the room slowly while he was talking, she reminded him a lot to his ex girlfriend. "The Salvatore name is practically royalty in this town." Damon informed Alex. "Until the war, there was a battle here─"

"The battle of Willow Creek." Alex replied cleverly. "I know, we kind of talked about it in class, confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside."

"What the history books left out was the people that were killed. They weren't there by accident. They were believed to be union sympathizers," He informed while walking towards a small replica of the church on a table. "So some of the founders on the condederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive. Stefan and Damon had each woman that they loved so much in that church and when they went to rescue them, they were shot. Murdered in cold blood."

"Who were in the church they wanted to save?" Alex asked while looking at him.

"Two women, I guess. _Their_ women. Doesn't it always come down to the love of women?" He shrugged.

"Look, I'm sorry that you and Stefan have this thing between you. But I can't get in the middle of it, Damon, I don't want to be in the middle of it." Alex looked at him in the eyes, explaining to him that she never wanted to be in the middle of them and their issues at all. "It's obviously late for my sister, but let's just let them be happy."

"Yes. I agree." He smiled. "But you can be happy too."

Alex was nervous. She breathed out while taking a few steps back when he took some steps closer to her, their eyes met. "Excuse me, but I have to go. Tyler must be looking for me. Thank you for telling me about your ancestors, past and all that stuffs." She said, walking pass by his shoulder.

Damon grabbed her hand.

"Tyler is with Caroline. Who is looking for you?" He said whispering against her ear, his other hand gently brushed her hair.

"Damon." They heard a voice behind them.

Damon knew it was his brother, totally distracting his moment with Alex.

"Hello to you too, brother." Damon replied uncomfortably and released his grip from her hand although he didn't want to. He watched her walking away from him, it was like imagining himself letting go of Serene.

Alex walked to Stefan. He took her hand and walked outside and left Damon all alone in the heritage room. He was worried about her and so was Elena, it was his job to take care of her, too, because he promised Elena.

"You okay?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah."

"Did he do anything to you?" Stefan asked again being worried and concerned about Alex. He was afraid that Damon would have done something bad to her.

"No. I'm good. Thank you, Stefan. He was just telling me about your ancestors and the past stuff." Alex replied honestly with a convincing smile while walking outside where they encountered Caroline who was drinking alone after Stefan left her for a while. "Where is Tyler?"

"He's with your sister." Caroline replied, pointing to the lakeside where Elena and Tyler were talking.

Near the lakeside, Elena was walking beside Tyler while having conversations about her sister. "How are you doing with her?"

"As far as I know, we are fine." Tyler nodded.

Elena breathed out and stopped walking. "I heard about you and Vicki from Jeremy. Although Alex is okay with these... I'm not."

"No. Me and Vicki are just friends now." Tyler replied with all his honesty. "It's─ I was just trying to say hey because she was hospitalyzed before this afternoon. Nothing more than that."

"I believe you, but let me tell you this," Elena paused to clear her throat and looked up to him. "It's not good to bring past to present especially when it comes about relationship, Tyler, no one likes bringing up their past."

"I know, and I promise. Because I love your sister, Elena, I love her." Tyler said, looking back at her.

"Hey, Elena." Stefan's voice interrupted. He approached them with a bright smile while holding her hands. "Tyler, Alex is waiting on the dance floor. Go get her. She is no longer talking to Damon."

"Okay." Tyler nodded and quickly ran back to the mansion to see his girlfriend, Alex.

Stefan watched him leaving before looking back to Elena and kissed her head. "How's the talk? Everything's good?"

"Yeah." Elena nodded. "But I'm afraid he is still in love with Vicki which will definitely hurt Alex and her feelings, Stefan."

"And why do you think that way? Maybe he is going to friend her. Don't see something from the negative side first, alright?" Stefan smiled. "Want to drink?"

"Sure, okay." Elena giggled softly, taking his hand.

On the dance floor, Alex was dancing with Tyler. They were happy to finally have a good and romantic time together. Damon was walking into the dance floor and watched Alex and Tyler in jealousy. Alex noticed him but decided to ignore him.

"So what are you talking about with him? A date?" Tyler asked protectively.

"Come on," she scoffed. "Ofcourse not. You are cute when you are jealous. Please don't let it ruin our moment, Ty."

"Alright, sorry." He chuckled while kissing her cheek, and then continued dancing.

"They make such a cute couple." Caroline said to Damon commenting about Tyler and Alex who were dancing.

"Don't talk please." Damon said, closing his eyes.

Caroline glanced at him while leading the glass of champagne to her lips, trying to ignore her feeling everytime Damon made her feel like she wasn't good enough for him. And she felt unwanted.

Inside the mansion, Jenna was in the bar to get a drink when someone she didn't expect to meet approached her and stood next to her. "Don't shoot," Logan exclaimed jokingly to Jenna. "Only need a refill."

"Shooting implies caring." She replied shortly looking at him.

"Feigned indifference. I like it." Logan said, trying to charm Jenna.

"I'm over the banter, Logan. I'd really rather you just left me alone." Jenna stated.

"I'm sorry, Jenna. About your sister." He told her with concern and sympathy filling his voice, trying to catch her attention.

"Thank you." Jenna thanked him with a sad look on his face.

"I came to the funeral." Logan said.

"I know." She replied tersely while looking away. "I saw you."

"I didn't want to push my way in, but, I wanted to be there for you." He told her in concern. "And when I heard you were staying in Mystic Falls, I thought maybe... Well, maybe I could have a second chance to make things right."

There was a long pause, she glared at him for the moment and began to remember things in the past between him and her. It was painful. "Her name was Monica, wasn't it?" She asked bluntly about the girl Logan cheated on her with before walking away.

* * *

While the party was still going on, Alex went to the bathroom where she found Caroline was fixing her make up as she smiled through the mirror. Alex mirrored the smile and dropped her bag on the counter, grabbing her face powder.

"So how are things with Tyler? I saw you two dancing together. You look cute together, Alex." Caroline said while applying gloss to her lips.

"Great." Alex smiled while putting on her face powder before grabbing the lip-gloss just like Caroline. "Thank you. You and Damon make a cute couple too."

"Really?" Caroline said, her expression was flat. "Things are unusual between me and him lately."

"Wait... what is that?" Alex frowned when she noticed something behind the scarf Caroline was wearing, it looked horrible.

"What?" Caroline was confused.

"Your scarf..." Alex tried pulling her scarf as she saw a bite mark behind it. She gasped. "Oh my god, Caroline, what happened with you?!"

"It's nothing." Caroline assured, feeling uncomfortable when she was getting questions regarding to her neck and scarf thingy.

"That's obviously not nothing! Caroline! Seriously, what the hell is that?" Alex once again tried to look closer to her neck. No answer. "Caroline Forbes!"

"Stop it! It's nothing, okay? My mom would kill me." She snapped. Alex pulled her lace white cardigan to the back which revealed bruises all over her back which shock her more. Caroline quickly pulled her cardigan back.

Alex grew impatient. "Did Damon hurt you?! Please, be honest, Caroline! Tell me."

"No! Of course he didn't." Caroline shook her head before she noticed Alex was looking at her bruises again. "Just leave me alone, Alex!"

Alex growled as she left the bathroom, looking around to find Damon. She caught him standing near the stairs and without thinking twice, she rushed towards him, shoving him away although he barely moving in the end. "There is something seriously wrong with you! You stay away from Caroline! Or I will go straight to her mother, the sherrif. You got it?" She hissed sarcastically, warning Damon about getting closer to Caroline. "Stay away from her!"

After warning him, she walked away to find her sister who was drinking with Stefan. She quickly approached them remembering Stefan is the younger brother of Damon.

"Hey, I'm so sorry for interrupting," Alex panted. "There is something wrong with Damon. So wrong. And it's bad."

"What did he do?" Stefan asked.

"There are bruises and bitemarks all over Caroline's body and I think he has her all messed up in the head." Alex said, her voice was noticeably shaking. "I tried asking her about those bruises but she's not answering. I'm afraid something bad happens to her. Damon is doing harm."

"Elena, take her inside. I'll deal with it." Stefan said when he saw his brother was dragging Caroline in force near the quiet place. Elena nodded slowly while taking her sister back inside the mansion, trying to distract her mind from thinking about this issue.

* * *

"She took it off and I got flustered." Caroline choked on her tears. Fear filling her head to toe. She was afraid that he would do something to her. "I didn't know what to say but I swear I didn't tell her! I just told her that you didn't meant to hurt me."

Damon remained silent while walking behind her and then stopped behind her, hugging her from the back and then kissed her neck gently. "You make me crazy, you know that?" Damon purred against her neck. "It's okay, I forgive you."

"I swear, I didn't say─"

Damon whispered on her ears. "Shh, shh, it's okay."

"Unfortunately, I am so over you now." He rubbed her shoulder before he sunk his sharp fangs on her neck and growled violently. But he was weakened after tasting her blood.

"What the hell?" He cursed.

Stefan approached him with a smug look, watching his older brother coughing. "You know, I couldn't spike your drink... so, I spiked hers."

* * *

Later that night when the party ended, Caroline woke up alone in the lawn, seeing no one around her. She grabbed Damon's crystal from the ground.

A few minutes later, Alex and Elena walked approaching Caroline. "There you are, Caroline. We've been looking everywhere for you! Are you okay?" Elena sighed looking at her.

"Yeah." Caroline answered, almost breathless. She was terrified. "I'm fine. I'm... fine."

"Caroline, what happened?" Elena asked in concern.

"Oh god. You're shaking, come here." Alex said opening her arms for her blond best friend to hug her. Caroline hugged her back sobbed on her shoulder while Elena joined the hug.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the study room, Mayor Lockwood walked in and saw the other councils were already gathered waiting for him. He looked around and started to speak, thanking everyone for coming and waiitng. "Thank you for staying so late."

"Did you get the Gilbert watch?" Sheriff Forbes asked

"Both Elena and Alex claim it's packed away in their parents' things." Mrs. Lockwood replied worriedly.

"I can get it." Logan said while sitting down on a chair.

"Good. We're going to need it." Sheriff informed carefully about the watch.

"Are you sure?" Mayor Lockwood turned to the sheriff.

"5 bodies all drained of blood? I'm certain." Sheriff answered, she was serious about it.

"They've come back." Logan finished.

Outside the mansion, while trying to find his girlfriend, Tyler was dragged to the lawn by Vicki. She wasn't wearing a dress, only her casual outfit, with a smile. He wondered what she was doing here especially late in night like this. "Vicki? What are you doing? Party is over." He said informing her.

"I know." She smiled. "I came for something else."

"What is it?" Tyler was curious.

Suddenly, she hugged him. She was relieved when she hugged him, it has been long since she felt how warm the hug was. "I'm here to say sorry. I'm really sorry for being dismissive and everything. I was just hoping you can come back to me... but I was wrong. This is probably will be the last hug we'll do."

Tyler couldn't do anything and only hugged her back, not trying to do anything else, knowing he has a girlfriend whom he loved.

"I guess this is the last time to say this too." Vicki smiled to his shoulder. "I love you."

"I guess I'm distracting." Alex suddenly appeared behind them, didn't know since when.

He pulled away from the hug and turned around to see his girlfriend standing there, her eyes filled with pain. Before he could explain anything about this, she was already walking away bumping into Mrs. Lockwood. Tyler saw his mom and he would probably be dead after this.

"Honey, what happened?" Mrs. Lockwood carefully asked Alex who was crying, her face sunk onto her palms as she covered her face. She didn't answer.

Vicki who was smirking earlier suddenly turned deadpan.

Mrs. Lockwood noticed her son with Vicki. She walked approaching them with a smile, fake smile because she never liked Vicki. "It's Vicki, right? Matt's sister."

"Yes, ma'am." Vicki said politely.

"What's going on here? Can one of you explain? Why is Alex crying?" Mrs. Lockwood looked at both her son and the young girl behind him.

"Nothing, Mrs. Lockwood. Tyler and I were just saying good night. I guess this is _my_ fault." Vicki tried to smile while slowly walking away. She was sad. "Excuse me."

Tyler watched her walking away, feeling guilty, but then looking back at his mom who was giving him a death glare. "Why are you bringing the trash to the party? Look what have you done." She scolded him but he ignored her and ran passing by her, looking for his girlfriend.

"Alex!" Tyler called, running to her and grabbed her hand.

"Tyler, please. I'm done pretending I'm okay. It's too hard for me to handle." Alex sobbed.

"Let me explain first. Alexandra Gilbert, please, listen to me." He pleaded, rubbing both of her hands. It ached him everytime he saw her tears falling down.

"You two were hugging and saying I love you. What is it, are you trying to plan to get back together behind me? Please, Tyler, don't lie to me. At least, don't lie to yourself. And I'm sorry but it's already late at night, I need to go back home." She said before leaving, releasing her hands from his hands, which was hurt. She didn't wanna let go, she wanted to hug him and then kiss him. But she couldn't. "Good night... Tyler Lockwood."

"Alex..." His voice was almost silent and watched her walking away from him. He couldn't accept that this was the end of everything they had been through. Suddenly he ran after her, pulling her into his hug and then kissed her deeply. "Please don't leave me. I can explain everything."

Alex was crying again, replying his kiss.

"Thank you, Tyler. I- I love you." She showed a bitter and painful smile to him before walking away. Leaving him frozen there with his mouth fell open.

* * *

**A/N**: Tylex is breaking up! Which means, there will be more of Dalex moments you guys are waiting for! I know that it was a misunderstanding between Tylex because of Vicki, but don't worry, he'll get a chance to explain in later chapters (though he won't be together with her anymore).

But wait... do you love the name Dalex? If you don't, you can leave review of what name should I use for Damon and Alex pairing! :)

Special thanks to **Forever Fanfiction Lover22**, **Channiess**, **Habblez** and **Gabby** for the review in previous chapter. I would also like to thank whoever follows/fav because it means a lot to me! Please, let me know of what do you think about this chapter. Cheers!


	5. Chapter 5: You're Undead To Me

**Chasing Perfection**  
Season 1  
**Chapter 5**: You're Undead To Me

* * *

Today was much like a new day again for her. Alex never thought she had to start everything like a new page again and all over again. She thought it was enough to do that after her parents' death, it made her wonder why all the problems kept coming to her life. It was a lot more than she asked for, but no, she never asked for any of it. She only wanted to live her life as normal as possible. Why couldn't she?

She opened her bag and grabbed her phone, but stayed quiet in all of sudden as she remembered if she turned her phone back on... notifications would come. A tsunami of notifications perhaps. There was this one night when she turned her phone on, she received a lot of text messages and missed calls that was from no other than her ex. She rolled her eyes and let her phone turned off until now while putting it back inside her bag.

He tried coming to her house but she told her aunt and sister not to open it for him. Despite not telling her aunt the reason behind it, her aunt understood just like her older sister. And luckily, he never came when Jeremy was in the mood to open the door.

Walking to the bathroom, she was shocked when she saw someone was brushing her teeth. It was Vicki. Of course, she was angry because Vicki was the reason of why she broke up with Tyler a few days ago and now she was going to screw up with her brother? Not gonna happen.

"What the-"

Luckily Elena came into the bathroom before she could say or do anything. She was as well shocked when she saw Vicki was there, but the worse part was that Alex became the first one to found Vicki staying here. She would obviously pissed off the whole day, knowing that Vicki wouldn't be here for any of them but Jeremy. Alex's twin. She wouldn't be happy about it, at all.

"I... I'm sorry," Vicki said to her, a little bit embarrassed and surprised as well when the sisters found her. "I'm almost done."

"It's okay. Take your time." Elena said, shocked, pushing her sister back into her room by her shoulder to calm her down before she said anything else.

"Elena! This is not okay!" Alex grunted, trying to go back into the room, but her older sister held her there. "She was screwing with my ex and then now she is screwing with my brother? I can't let that happen!"

Elena sighed but nodded at the same time. "Look, I know you're breaking up because of her. But this is not a way to make her pay."

"No, you don't understand," she snapped. "You know how much Jeremy defends her right? When he knew we broke up because of her, he'll blame Tyler. Not the bitch."

Alex rushed downstairs with one last glare toward her sister and searched for her aunt to complain, because she didn't like it how that girl tried ruining her life all over again. It was enough if she wanted to screw with Tyler but not Jeremy because it was over the line.

"Jenna!" Alex called for her while rushing to the kitchen where her aunt was eating cereal. "Are you aware of what's going on upstairs?"

"Uh-huh." Jenna mumbled.

"And... you have no objection?" Elena asked surprised.

"He could be craftier about it, at least make an effort to sneak her in and out. Oh, and just so you know, I won't be home for dinner." Jenna said to her nieces while shrugging.

"Oh, so you're actually going to do it. You're gonna go out with Logan." Elena giggled asking her aunt about her plan going out with the news guy.

"Seriously? Don't you know who is he trying to sneak in and out?" Alex asked, upset and surprised, rolling her eyes. "And you Elena, don't talk about anything else until this case is solved!"

"Yeah. Vicki Donovan, Matt Donovan's sister, right?" Jenna looked at her youngest niece. "I know that."

"And the girl who screwed with my boyfriend." Alex told her sarcastically while walking toward the cupboard to get a bowl and a spoon. "And literally screwing my whole life."

"What?" Jenna was surprised and couldn't believe her ears for the moment.

"Yes." She replied and then continued talking with formal tone and shrugged. "Here lays the tragic and hopeless relationship of Alexandra Gilbert and Tyler Lockwood which ended at the Founders party, caused by Vicki Donovan."

"Oh my god... I'm so sorry." Jenna said, guilt filling her voice as she looked at her niece in shock.

"No worries. So you're going to have a dinner date with your cute guy?" She nodded while looking at her older sister Elena and poured the cereal into her bowl.

"I'm going to show up and torture him, yes." Jenna replied and then looked at the oldest niece, Elena who was also preparing for the cereal. "Have you heard from Stefan?"

"Not since he left that very vague message three days ago. _Hi, um, Elena, I, um, have something I have to do. I'll, uh, explain in a few days_." Elena said, mocking Stefan by imitating his voice on the call.

"Haven't you called him?" Jenna asked curiously.

"Nope. Not going to either." Elena answered shrugging her shoulder and went next to her aunt's seat.

"Why not?" Alex took a mouthful of cereal into her mouth. She automatically forgot about her own problem earlier, luckily.

"And you're okay with everything?" Jenna asked creasing her eyebrows.

"Nope. I'm not okay with any of it. But I'm not gonna cry about it either. You know, I was going to write in my diary this morning and then I thought... what am I going to write? Honestly, I'm not gonna be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy." Elena said while putting her spoon down on her bowl as she looked at both her sister and aunt, rolling her eyes.

"Okay then." Jenna concerned, she was shocked at the same time listening to her. "What about you? Lex, you feel okay?"

"I can say the same like what Elena said." Alex said walking upstairs to her room while bringing the bowl, her expression was upset. She couldn't even explain why she was still very emotional about all of it, because she committed not to think about it too much. Maybe because of Vicki too.

"She is okay." Elena said to Jenna, sighing deeply before she continued eating her cereal.

Meanwhile inside Jeremy's room. Vicki was walking out from the bathroom, rushing toward him who was lying on the bed reluctantly. She knew Alex wouldn't be happy about her staying in the house especially after the other night. "I think you might be in trouble." Vicki said, warning Jeremy.

"What did you do?" He asked because he was curious. But he didn't seem to take it seriously. He thought it was maybe her sister things all over again.

"Your sister saw me." She replied worriedly.

He slowly got up watching her. "Which one?"

"Alex!" She rolled her eyes. "And then Elena too."

"I'm a drug-using delinquent." He said smiling to her before he pulled her hand to the bed and kissed her. "A girl in bed doesn't really rank. Sorry."

"But something isn't right..."

"What?" He frowned and stopped kissing her. "Did you do something to upset her?"

"N-no. You know everything I do always set her off. She didn't like me here. With you sneaking me in isn't a good thing after all especially when she knew." She explained while looking deep into his eyes. Not wanting to tell him about anything she did the other day just yet because she wanted to enjoy the rest of the days with him.

"Okay...?" He creased his brows.

"Jeremy!" Jenna suddenly came in and was surprised when she saw her nephew was on top of a girl. Practically almost all naked together. "You go outside, we need to talk."

"Wait here." He nodded while gesturing to Vicki while walking outside the room and wore his shirt again, preparing himself to listen to his aunt. After wearing his shirt properly, he looked to her. "Yeah?"

"First things first, what are you doing there?" Jenna was kind of furious after knowing that girl he was hooking up with was the reason of why her niece breaking up with her boyfriend three days ago as what she was told earlier.

Jeremy rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Nothing, we only have quality times. You know that. Or else you wouldn't let her in since last night when she was on the door."

"Nothing? That's not nothing." She gestured to the room and reminded him about them being almost naked on the bed together which was illegal. "And then, second, do you know that your twin is breaking up with her boyfriend?"

"Seriously?" He frowned.

"Yes, and your girlfriend there is the reason behind it all. They broke up because of Vicki Donovan." Jenna couldn't help but to scold him about it. "Your twin was very upset about it, she was now in her room having meal for breakfast. She would usually join us all downstairs. Not anymore today."

Jeremy was quiet. He was looking straight to the room where his twin stayed. No matter how he loved Vicki, he loved his sister more but didn't want to hurt Vicki all at the same time even when he knew she was the reason behind his twin's break up.

"Get her out of here before your sisters explode with anger in front of you." Jenna told him as she went downstairs with one last glare to warn him carefully, let him think which was better to chose.

Without saying nor thinking about anything else, he went into his room where Vicki was lying on the bed. He grabbed all her clothes from the floor and threw it to her in rush which made her surprised. "What the hell?" She held her hands up as she was asking explanations for this.

"My sister broke up. Are you and Tyler happy now? You need to leave before she got angrier at any chance. Because I'll be dead. Come on, I'll help you leave." He explained to her while gesturing to the clothes on her lap to make her wear it. "Wear it, quick. I don't wanna die yet today."

"Fine!" She said a little upset while wearing her clothes back and followed him downstairs quietly.

* * *

In the Salvatore Boarding House, Stefan was talking to his nephew while slowly leaving the cellar where they caged the troublemaker. Damon, who was weak because of the vervain Stefan gave him earlier during the party. "He is awake. He's weak. But it's probably best to stay out of the basement. He is Damon. I'm not sure how dangerous he still might be." Said Stefan while picking up his school bag.

"You're going to school?" Zach asked when he saw his uncle Stefan has prepared himself to leave the house.

"I came here to live a life. It's about time I get back to that and Elena, if she's still speaking to me." Stefan explained and suddenly thinking about her since it has been a few days that he didn't contact her.

"Why haven't you called her?" Zach asked.

"What am I supposed to do, feed her another lie? I hate lying to her, Zach. I'm not good at it. She already thinks I'm hiding something." Stefan replied knowing that she might suspect him further if he kept avoiding her for a few days, so he had decided to meet her today.

"What choice do you have? You came here because you wanted to live as normal as you could. You knew this was going to be a part of it." Zach said to remind his uncle about his intentions, knowing that his uncle had no choice at all.

Different things happened in Caroline's house. She was in her room with Bonnie and was preparing herself for school as well but was talking about what happened to her in the party earlier. It was honestly strange that sometimes she barely remember things that happened in past times when she started dating Damon and attached a lot to him.

"I remember the party. Damon came up behind me and he was kissing my neck or biting my neck. I passed out. It's like there's holes in my memory lately. It's just weird. Maybe I let him bite me." Caroline said to her friend while adding a thin layer of cover-up to cover her bruises and bite marks which was made by her boyfriend, as far as she could remember about it. Yet she was still sounded strange, perhaps because of the compulsion which had controlled her.

"Why would you do that?" Bonnie asked surprised about the whole thing Caroline told her, while staring intently to the candle in her hand.

"Can we just not talk about it, okay? I don't want to talk about Damon. I don't want to talk about any of it. Just want to go back to normal." Caroline said admitting to her friend and watched her playing with the candle. "What are you doing with that candle?"

"Um... nothing." Bonnie said while putting the candle away and saw the crystal. "What's this?"

"Damon gave it to me. Or he was going to give it to me. All I know is, it's mine now." Caroline explained about the crystal her friend was asking about.

"It's ugly." Bonnie said picking up the crystal, commenting about it while scanning the strange-looking item on the necklace.

"Well, get your grubby hands off it." Caroline hissed because she didn't like how her friend was looking at the crystal and then said that it was ugly.

* * *

In school, both Gilbert sisters and the friends were near their lockers and putting their things in it while taking out the books they need for the class they were going to attend later. Right when they were chatting, Caroline came into the halls and shouted since she only had one thing she wanted to do and spread to her friends. Sexy Suds Car Wash. It was as if nothing happened to her earlier. She was bubbly and happy and was enjoying her life.

"The sexy suds car wash in tomorrow. The football team and the band have committed. Well, not all the band. Just the ones who could pull off the bikini. I want, in your face, sexy. I mean, it's a fund raiser, for god's sake." Caroline said in a high volume to her friends with a small smirk appearing on her lips.

"Unbelievable. It's like nothing happened." Elena shook her head while watching their blond friend being excited and all happy.

"I know right... she's always like that. All and all over again everytime something bad happened." Alex sighed while closing her locker and followed her sister line of sight to watch their blonde bestie.

"She's in denial." Bonnie said.

"Hey." Stefan greeted while approaching the girls.

"Hey. You know, I gotta go. Be somewhere right now." Bonnie suddenly made an excuse to leave.

"Guess who's back. Stefan! Have fun with Elena." Alex said smiling to him while running to her friend who was just walking away. "Bonnie! I'm coming with you. Wait for me, Bon!"

Stefan nodded and smiled to Alex watching her leave.

"So..." Elena sighed catching his attention.

"I'm so sorry I haven't called." Stefan suddenly apologized as it was his actual intention meeting her today.

"No worries. I'll live." Elena said being careless since she was being really mad at him.

"I was dealing with Damon." He explained in hope she would understand.

"And did you... deal with Damon?" She asked.

"Yes. Yeah." He said smiling at her. Convincing her that he wasn't lying at all.

"For four days?" Elena asked.

"You have every right to be upset with me." Stefan said to her and let her be mad if she wanted to and then pleaded. "But can I explain it all to you? Please?"

"Sure. When?" Elena finally agreed after she looked at his puppy eyes when he pleaded.

"I gotta be home after school, but The Grill, around four o'clock?" He asked if she could come in the time he mentioned.

"Okay." She agreed.

"Thanks." He said nodding.

Caroline approached both after talking to Bonnie and Alex regarding to the school event she was going to held tomorrow and decided to ask about Damon to Stefan because Damon didn't come out for a few days or even contact her. "Stefan! Where is Damon? He has some serious apologizing to do here." She stated waiting for a response.

"He's gone, Caroline." Stefan said glaring at her and tried to tell her that she had to leave Damon alone.

"When is he coming back?" Caroline asked again.

"He's not coming back. I'm sorry." Stefan replied feeling guilty before walking away.

"This is a good thing, Caroline." Elena told her.

"I know that." Caroline said staring blankly at nothing and then left.

After school, Elena went to The Grill where Stefan promised her some chat and explanations. Instead of meeting Stefan, she saw people she barely knew and Matt, which made her legs move toward him. "Hey! Matt, um, have you seen Stefan?" She asked if he could, by any chance, saw him around.

"Nope. If you want to kill some time, um, you can rack. Come on. We haven't played in forever. I'll let you break." Matt said to her while suggesting something to do with her since he didn't want to keep avoid her and not talking to her.

* * *

Zach had been avoiding the cellar all day and now he decided to go check his uncle down the cellar and maybe talk to him and confess about vervain on his drinks everyday. "I'm full of vervain. I've been putting it in my coffee for 16 years. My blood will only make you worse. Damon?" Zach stated to his uncle.

"So it was your vervain." Damon said responding about his nephew drinking vervain everyday and then commented sarcastically. "Good for you. Good for you. Family only runs so deep."

"We're not family, Damon. Only in the most dysfunctional sense. In fact, I avoided having a living, breathing, loving family because of you." Zach said frustratedly while glaring at his weak uncle inside the cellar room.

"I don't guess I could talk you into bringing me a rabbit or something?" Damon asked. "I'd settle for Stefan's diet at this point."

"You know I can't do that." Zach replied.

"You succeeded, Zach. I'm shutting down. You're like your grandfather. He didn't like it when I came to visit, either." Damon told him while trying to sit.

"But you don't visit, Damon. You appear, unannounced, reminding me that this isn't my house; that you're just permitting me to live here." Zach snapped. "Hell that you're permitting me to live."

"Someone had to mow the lawn." Damon said to his nephew mocking him jokingly yet sarcastically.

"I came to say good-bye, Damon." Zach said to Damon while closing the door.

"Unlock it! Unlock the door, Zach." Damon demanded him coming up to the door and grabbed him by his throat through the small window thing on the door. Suddenly, Stefan arrived and tried to let Damon's grip from Zach and then glared to his brother.

"Keep it up, Damon. The more energy you expend, the faster you'll go." Stefan told Damon smugly and warned him about things he did.

* * *

At The Grill, Elena was still playing together with Matt while talking about their life. It was random actually, because they had nothing to talk about or any other topics in mind honestly and it led them talking about their sisters. Alex was suddenly arrived. They saw her, but she walked away when she saw Matt.

"Is she okay? What's with the look at me?" Matt asked.

"I'm sorry. She's been difficult lately." Elena explained while sighing to Matt. "There's Vicki, all nonchalant in the bathroom like it's no big deal that they're hooking up... right after what she did to my sister."

"Yeah. I'm not gonna lie. Your brother and my sister, that's weird." Matt agreed while looking at her. "Vicki was always over the line. I'm sorry she was involved with your sister's relationship and whatever is this between them."

"It's alright, I know Alex is going to be okay with this." Elena nodded when her phone rang.

"How late is he?" He asked when he saw her checking her phone.

"Hitting the hour mark. Nothing's wrong though. Which means I'm not talking boy problems with you." She said while shooting the cue ball and rolled her eyes at the thought of Stefan being late.

"Good. I mean, it's not like we were ever best friends or anything." He joked.

"Okay. Here goes…" Elena started asking him. "What do you think of Stefan? Is he a good guy?"

"Why? What's he done?" Matt shot the question back with wishes in thoughts that Stefan didn't do anything bad to her or her family at all.

Elena sighed and tried telling him about her issue, she was afraid she couldn't trust Stefan with him being very secretive to her lately. "Not any one thing. He's just so secretive all the time. I think there's something that he doesn't want me to know, which makes me want to know all the more."

"Like what? Like that he's a serial killer and he keeps a clown suit in his trunk?" He joked while laughing about his own reply to her question.

"No, of course not." Elena said. "But what do we know about him, really?"

"He's great at football. A little bit of a loner. And as much as I hate saying it, he might be a nice guy." Matt replied telling her what he knew about Stefan and admitted things he didn't want to say about him being a nice guy. Because honestly, he was still envy him for everything.

"So you think I'm just being paranoid?" Elena asked again.

Matt didn't give her any straightforward answer, only giving her a suggestion to talk to Stefan. "I think you should talk to him."

"Talk to who?" Stefan suddenly appeared behind them and approached them before turning to see Elena. "I'm so sorry that I'm late."

"What happened?" Elena asked him regarding to what he promised and what held him back that made him late.

"I got held up." Stefan answered.

"Is everything okay?" She questioned with concern.

"There was this thing with my uncle." He started explaining while shrugging his shoulders.

She was upset with him, obviously. "And you couldn't call and tell me that you were going to be an hour late?"

"Okay. You two have fun." Matt held his hands up and left the two alone because he didn't want to be a part of the awkward conversation.

"I'm really sorry. It was unavoidable." Stefan apologized to her with all his heart. He didn't want her to be upset with him but he had no choice but to cover things up or else she would be very freaked out.

"What was unavoidable?" She asked him in hope he would answer her this time, tried to be honest with her. But he didn't which upset her more and more. She walked away. "Okay."

"Elena, please..." He called and grabbed her arm.

She swung her arm and replied him before she started leaving the grill. "No, Stefan, don't you get it? Every question gets a vague non-answer. What is so awful that you're afraid to tell me?"

While walking to the exit, they encountered an old man who was very familiar and recognized Stefan.

"I know you. My God." The old man stated while looking at Stefan.

"I'm sorry?" Stefan asked, he was confused and worried.

"I know you. How can it be?" The man continued talking about knowing him and recognizing him.

"I think you have the wrong person, sir." Stefan said trying to make the man stop because he knew this man might knew something about him that he didn't want Elena to know.

"You haven't aged a day."

"I'm sorry. Excuse me." Stefan said to the old man and begun pushing Elena towards the exit door. "Hey, can we─ can I take you home and we can talk about it? Is that okay?"

Elena stopped and was angrier because of his attitude and reactions which were quite strange. "Wait. What was that?"

"I… I don't know. Uh, nothing." Stefan answered hesitantly.

"Right. _Nothing_." She was once again pissed because of the annoying answer ever. "Okay, um, I gotta go, Stefan. Excuse me."

With that she left the grill angry, leaving him alone.

* * *

If there was one thing that could calm her down, maybe this was the answer. Alex thought that drinking would help her got better. She would usually drink with a boyfriend or maybe a friend but she was feeling lonely lately, she didn't want to be with anyone too long. Her thoughts were suddenly blurred when she heard someone beside her and sat there next to her.

"Tyler is a good guy but he is good in a wrong time. So people saw it like he was actually doing bad things."

She recognized the voice. It was someone very familiar. Her former brother in law, the brother of this chick who was trying to ruin her life. Matt Donovan. She actually didn't want to see him around for a while because of his sister, but she thought again why would she avoid him? She only hated his sister for what she did, not him. He wasn't someone evil.

"What now, you got paid by Tyler to speak up to me?" She scoffed sarcastically about things he said to her about her ex boyfriend. "Not working. Ha _ha_."

"No. Really," Matt chuckled. "Tyler told me everything about the other night... I think it wasn't all his fault. Like I said he was being good in a wrong time."

"Yeah, hugging your sister in a very wrong time. Got caught in a very wrong time." She rolled her eyes, trying not to listen what he was trying to explain about Tyler because she was done with these things. "I know. Screw everything."

"Look..." Matt had his smile faded little by little, he was still concerned about her because she was however his friend and she used to be like a sister to him too. "I'm just gonna be very honest about this. I don't even like how my sister is screwing with your happiness and life. I know how does it feel when our life was screwed up by someone. I've been in your position."

"I know what I saw. But I forgave your sister, though I'll never forget the things she ever did to me." She said looking at him in a half serious way and half joking but with a soft low voice tone.

He smiled again. "I'm not saying you should forgive her. I just want you to know that I'm sorry about what she did."

"It's okay, Matt. You're a very good man and brother." She smiled back and finished the drink, slinging her bag around her arm. "I wonder why my sister broke you up. Like really you are a nice guy. Anywaaay, I'm going hoooome before my sister scold me."

"Sure. Uh, okay, I'll see you later?" He formed another polite smile and sent it to her. "Want me to take you home maybe?"

"No I can seriously take care of myself."

Alex stood up and started walking away strangely perhaps because of the drink she drank, heading to the exit door when she suddenly saw someone else she didn't want to see for a while. Tyler.

"Ugh," she rolled her eyes and attempt to turn around slowly because of the headache she felt after drinking. It was a while since she drunk a lot. Maybe it effected her today.

"Careful!" Tyler said while holding her hand.

"Let me go, please." She said while trying to swung her arm and leave the grill.

"Wait, just let me─"

"What? Explain? I've seen enough that you don't have to explain about everything." She snapped sarcastically and glared at him for a few seconds, still pissed off. "I can't be like _oh my boyfriend is hugging someone else and I'm very okay with it_. Nope."

"Okay then please give me a chance to talk again to you. I swear I will avoid the conversation about the other night because I don't even want to bring things up." He said looking back at her. "We can still talk and be friends right?"

**This takes hella lot of patience**, she mused in her head.

"What exactly do you want?" She said while turning her phone on and showed the phone screen to him. Almost slamming it down the ground because she didn't hold it properly. "See? I turned the phone on. We can talk. Happy now? I hate you."

Tyler nodded in reply with a small smile but was still nervous and awkward. He was afraid of what she was thinking about him. A part of him still wanted to be with her, but he knew he couldn't.

"Okay. Can I, uh, take you home?"

"No. I'm going home alone." She replied while putting her phone back into her bag. "I don't think you care to bring me home but thanks. Gotta go."

Tyler was kinda disappointed. "But you're dru─ Uh-huh. Okay I'll just see you later."

"I'll take care of her, she is real drunk, it's not even night yet and she is drunk." Matt sighed while approaching her who was walking to the exit door. Tyler only nodded.

She didn't say a word, only a nod while walking away leaving him there. She was walking strangely. All she wanted was some me-time without this ex boyfriend drama, but plan was ruined the second she was bumped to him a while ago.

But maybe this was too much for her.

Why should she hated him so much? She could just listen to his explanation without trying to get back to him and forgave him for hugging Vicki when she was searching for him late night.

Screw her choices, everything in her life. Maybe this was the outcome of becoming emotional and suspicious herself, and maybe karma was looking for her. **Awesome**, she scoffed at the thought.

Suddenly, she felt someone was taking her hand. It was Matt and he was pulling her to the parking lot.

"I'll take you home. I can't let you go home drunk alone." He said while taking her into his car.

When both arrived to her home, the door was opened by someone she never expected to usually see in the afternoon because he usually would go out and have some things with his school crush, maybe his girlfriend, who ruined her damn whole life. Yep, she would always talk about how Vicki ruined her life unless Vicki left from her brother's life. Because Alex was sure as hell that Vicki was still expecting something from Tyler. She was still in love with him, and she was just using Jeremy as runaway when she felt rejected. Alex knew that way too well.

Matt didn't say anything, she was carrying her upstairs which made Jeremy curious and he intended to talk to her anyway regarding to her break up and the whole Vicki thing later. He followed Matt upstairs. "What happened? You okay, Alex?"

"Oh yeah, so amazing. Why are you here? You usually would have go outside and have some weed and stuffs with your stoner friends and be cool." She scoffed sarcastically at her own respond to his question because she was actually stating the fact. "And your girlfriend? Oh, I know. You're hiding her right now right? I'll clap my hands for your struggle. Ha, _ha_, _ha_."

"She is drunk. Too many shots of whisky, especially it's been a while since she drank too much." Matt explained to Jeremy carefully while walking to her room and put her on the bed.

"Lex, you got drunk? Seriously? You're even two minutes younger than I am!" Jeremy protested without even correcting himself. Eventhough he was an older twin, Alex always been acting like the older one to him. But he could act like an older one sometimes, depending on what kind of situation they were in that time. Just like right now, to be exact.

"Yeah, cool dude. We are sixteen and apparently you're the only one who capable to get drunk in this universe." She mumbled. "And yeah maybe I'm drunk only when I talk to you. And Tyler. I don't know. Everyone!"

Jeremy rolled his eyes listening to her.

He knew she was real upset. She was using sarcasm level 100+, and she was doing some stone talk to him which was her only defence when she was upset.

Slowly, he walked further inside the room. He leaned on a wall and crossed his arms, watching his sister was lying on the bed, doing nothing but sleeping. "Look I'm serious now, Lex. Are you alright?" He asked strictly.

"I'm miserable." She mumbled reluctantly. Almost sounded like sobbing.

Matt breathed out while watching Alex being drunk and then turned to Jeremy. "Hey. I gotta go back to the grill. Take care of her, she is in a very rough shape."

"Yeah, thanks." Jeremy nodded while slowly approaching his twin and sat on the edge of the bed. "What's wrong with you, Lex?"

"Is Vicki still in there?" She asked, still mumbling.

"Don't answer a question with another question."

Alex only mumbled "mhm," while nodding slowly regarding to his statement.

He was seriously irritated right now. He didn't know why but it made him thought that she was just like himself, she was a reflection of him, in a different version.

"Okay, look, I'm sorry for your break up with your boyfriend and sorry I brought Vicki home." He apologized while shaking her shoulder gently. "Have you eat something?"

"Yep, yep, and nope. Whatever." She said slightly sobbing.

"Alex?" Elena called while walking inside the room. She saw her sister was lying on the bed and looked like having a fever right now. She turned to her brother. "Jer, what's wrong with her?"

"She's drunk," Jeremy said sighing while still looking at his twin who was lying weakly on the bed. "Matt brought her home."

"Yeah, I saw him walking down the stairs. But I kinda don't know what he was doing. I thought he was going for his sister since you keep her here this morning." Elena rolled her eyes and then startled when she suddenly aware of what he said about their sister. "Wait! Did you say she is drunk?"

Jeremy only gestured a yes answer to her.

"Alexandra!" Elena begun patting her shoulder. "This is your escape?"

"Ow! No. Get away." Alex whined and sunk her face on the pillow.

"Elena, you know. I think we should just let her sleep until the night. I'm sure she will real awake soon." He said giving his opinion about their sister who was drunk and looked tired right now. "Think about her feeling. She is difficult right now."

Elena nodded and suddenly understood how she was in a rough shape right now, with the whole parents thing which was still in mind yet plus the break up... things weren't as easy as it was. For Alex, it might be some kind of double damage in her heart. "Yeah... okay." Elena said while walking out from the room feeling worried and guilty.

* * *

**Ugh. What the hell?**

Alex sat up from the bed slowly while placing her hand on the head, trying to bear the headache she felt. She tried to recall things that happened before she woke up but she keep failing at remembering it. She didn't even know how she ended up in the bed, lying in an uncomfortable position, which made her body felt stiff the second she woke up.

"Hello, sleeping beauty."

She rolled her eyes when she heard the voice of her brother.

"Finally can move your lazy ass right there?" Jeremy said annoying her with a light chuckle. She saw him was standing and leaning on the wall, with an amused and annoying smile ever.

"Shut up, Jeremy!" She snapped while slowly trying to stand up from the bed, her hand was still on her head. "What the hell happened?"

"Nothing happened. Except you getting drunk." He answered simply.

She frowned at him in disbelief before started remembering that she was having some whisky inside the grill, and it was a lot. For a few years, she hasn't been drinking too much. Only a few shots of tequila before. "Oh my god... does Elena know this?"

"Yeah," he told her with his typical grin. "And she might gonna kick your lazy ass."

"Shit! I'm gonna be dead." She widened her eyes knowing her sister already knew her being drunk. "Who the hell took me home? I was thinking to come over my friend's house. I knew Elena wouldn't like this."

"Matt. He is worried about you, so he took you home. That's all I know." Jeremy said tilting his head a little. "If you have anything you don't feel comfortable of... you can always tell me. Right? This is not an escape to runaway from all your problems."

She went quiet for a few seconds and stared at nothing on the ground, thinking about what he said. Well, she thought could trust him but sometimes he was proving her wrong that made her reconsider about trusting him. "You wanna know what I'm not comfortable of? You. Jer, you are having a very special connection with Vicki Donovan. She comes to you whenever she is feeling rejected. What if she is only using you?" She told him with concern and worry. "I don't want my brother to look so dummy in her eyes. I don't want her to think that you are a perfect escape for her whenever she feel rejected by people, by Tyler."

Jeremy nodded and looked down before he lift his head up again and look at her in the eyes. "Okay, I know you hate Vicki. I know you hate me for liking her. But everything is going to be okay. I promise. I just want you to trust me. Your twin brother."

"Yeah? How?" She asked him again this time her voice was stern.

"Look, you should go get something to eat. Or maybe you'd like to clean yourself first. It's seven o'clock." He avoided the question she sent and threw a towel to her while slowly went outside the room. "In the evening!"

She sighed, hating how her brother always told her important things only in the end. Making her rush, impatient and all the annoying things she usually didn't do. "Yeah, damn you." She muttered when her brother walked away to his own room.

After taking shower and got dressed, she walked downstairs only to hear noises from some people familiar. It was Elena and Stefan. They were talking about something she was also getting interested in. She couldn't help but to overhear for a few minutes before she showed up - because she wanted to know what he was talking about.

"You want to know me, right? Well, I figure if you're going to dump me, you should at least, um, know who you're dumping. So let's start with Katherine." Stefan said telling her about his life and past since Elena was previously upset because he kept hiding everything from her.

"Stefan..." Elena said to him, not knowing what else to say.

"She was... the most beautiful girl that I had ever met. She had this perfect olive skin. And she had this laugh. It was ridiculous. I mean, her laugh made you laugh. And she was fun. She knew how to have a good time. But Katherine was also very impatient, entitled, selfish and impulsive." He said explaining about his ex to his girlfriend because he didn't want to hide more things to her. "And then there were Damon and Serene. They were perfect each other. Damon loved her and she loved him too. But things got complicated. I always have been thinking of Serene like a sister, she thought of me like a brother too. Damon weren't happy about it, he thought Serene and I were having an affair. He hated me and threatened that he would take Katherine. And I don't know. I only know that I do some things that I'm not proud of. And my biggest regret is not being able to make things right before they both died."

**So he wasn't really that sadistic before**, Alex mused in her head while still overhearing the conversation.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." Elena said while looking at him in concern because she thought that he was bad and he always hid things from her because he was still doing bad things.

"I miss them both. But I can't do anything about it." Stefan said feeling guilty about his own past. He didn't want to recall things, but he had to before he lose somebody else.

Alex suddenly walked in with a twinge of guilt showed on her expression, approaching the couple, she was going to say sorry to him because she had accused him as someone bad earlier. "Stefan... I'm sorry to hear that. I never know..."

"It's okay, Alex. I was actually bad. I know, but I promise not to hurt your sister. I love her." Stefan said tilting his head and smiled a little to her in reply of her statement. "You reminded me a lot of Serene because she would always act like a sister to me, suspect me and then apologize, support me with her sister."

"I can be a new sister figure to you." She replied again while smiling a little to him. "And I thank you so much for promising not to hurt her. But once you do, I'll kick your ass. Kindly note that."

Stefan laughed nodding at her reply. "Yeah, okay."

Elena also smiled a little before she grabbed her sister by the arm far from Stefan. Her smile faded into a scowl which made Alex mentally preparing herself to be scolded in maybe a few seconds. _Three_... _two_... _one_...

"Hey, are you aware of what's happening to you?" Elena said in a hushed whisper.

"Yesss..." Alex replied hesitantly.

"Please, don't say that you are turning into Jeremy. This isn't the right thing to do." Elena told her in concern. She was very worried about her being drunk. "You can talk to your siblings about your problem, because being drunk isn't an escape for it. There is no way to escape a problem with drinking!"

"I know, 'Lena, I know. I'm sorry." Alex said while letting out a deep breath. She knew her sister would say that, just like her twin brother earlier. "I don't even know what am I doing that time. All I know is that I want to drink and keep drinking. My head keep telling me that."

Without saying anything, Elena immediately hugged her sister and almost sounded sobbing on her shoulder. "Don't do this anymore. I'm so worried you know?" She said scolding Alex which made her giggle a little.

"Okay." Alex hugged her back.

"Good. Now come on, let's prepare for dinner with Stefan!"

* * *

**Next Day**

* * *

It was now Sexy Suds Car Wash event. Alex was with Bonnie and Matt while washing a car together to participate this car wash event organized by Caroline. They were having fun and laughing with eachother before they caught Elena and Stefan were kissing. Alex rolled her eyes and smirked when she saw Matt was staring at them, looking jealous.

"Uh-uh, no. None of that tortured pining stuff." Bonnie said to distract Matt from keep staring at his ex-girlfriend with her new boyfriend.

"I'm just observing." Matt responded defensively.

"Matt, you'll find a true love soon because you deserve it, but I should tell you that it isn't my sister. There will be someone else who will worth your love and struggles. She will love you more than the universe." Alex commented while still washing the car and gave him a small smile to comfort him. "Don't worry. Get over Elena. Move on. You're done."

Matt paused what he was doing and took a few seconds to look at her, trying to proceed her words to his mind and then saved it into his memory. She was somewhat right about her words: that he would find someone else who would worth his love sooner or later. Responding to her comment, he only gave a small smile and light nod.

While Bonnie walked away to encounter Tiki, Alex tried to dig informations about whatever she did and talked yesterday to people that she didn't remember. "Uh, anyway, Matt. Um, you brought me home yesterday right?" She asked awkwardly.

"Uh-huh. You're half drunk, or completely drunk that time."

"Did I say or did something bad to you or anybody?" She asked again being worried and insecure about yesterday.

"No. You and I only talked about Vicki... and then you met your ex. What's worse was that you turned your phone on under his request and let him talk to you again." Matt said shrugging while continued washing, trying as much as he could not to make her shocked... but she was already shocked.

"Oh my. How could I. This is why I woke up with so many notifications! I don't even know if I'd do that." She grunted frustratedly while placing her hand on her head as she started thinking how to get rid of Tyler later after their encounter yesterday. "I didn't... I mean he and I aren't..."

"What do you mean? You are like scolding him yesterday. It looks like you hate him so much. But there is a part of you that wants him back."

"No way in hell." She rolled her eyes and continued washing with him as she saw her sister was encountered by an old man. Strangely, her sister was talking to him in a serious way and it didn't seem like the old man was trying to pay for any things. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

"I'm sorry, what's going on here? Is there any problem?" Alex asked while walking behind the old man with a polite smile.

Elena turned to see her sister. "He knows something about Stefan that he didn't want me to know. Therefore, I need to know what is it about."

"Well. I… I thought it was somebody I knew." They heard the old man spoke which made both of the sisters turned their attentions to him.

"Stefan Salvatore?" Alex prompted while creasing her brows trying to make sure if he really did know Stefan.

"Nah, it can't be. It's just my mind playing tricks on me." He excused with a reason of his old age. But this kept making both sisters curious.

"Where do you think you'd seen him before?" Elena asked.

"When I first moved here, I stayed at the Salvatore boarding house." He explained carefully while remembering things on his memory about the past.

"Oh." Both Elena and Alex said awkwardly.

Apparently, the man hadn't finished explaining. "Stefan was just passing through to visit his uncle. I mean, none of us knew he was even here until the attack."

"What attack?" Alex frowned.

"His uncle got killed. Mauled by an animal in the woods."

"His uncle? Zach?" Elena asked surprised because all she knew was that Zach was still alive even until now.

"Mm-mmm. Joseph."

"I'm sorry, sir. I don't think I'm familiar with the story." Elena said politely but trying to know more.

"Yeah, me too." Alex nodded.

"Oh, how could you? I mean, this happened years ago." The old man told them both.

Tiki suddenly appeared and tried to take her grandfather away from both sisters because she was afraid he would bother the two Gilberts. "Grandpa, you gotta go. Mom wants you home okay?" She said to him calmly.

"Ah." The old man agreed.

"He wasn't bugging you, was he?" Tiki said to Elena and Alex about her grandfather. "He's a little alzy-heimer."

"No. He was sweet." Elena replied as she saw her sister was going after Tiki's grandfather and talked to him.

"Hey, sir, I'm sorry. Um, are you sure the man that you saw and you knew was Stefan Salvatore?" Alex questioned while patting the man's shoulder gently and smiled to him.

"Yes. I remember his ring and his brother…" The man said trying to remember things about Stefan.

"Damon?" Alex mentioned to help him remember since she was real curious.

"Yeah. Stefan and Damon Salvatore." He confirmed.

"When was this?" Elena suddenly joined the conversation.

"It was early June, 1953. Yeah. _June 1953_." He said before started leaving the sisters who was shocked about what he told them. Both looked at eachother in disbelief. You gotta be freaking kidding me, Alex said in her head.

Because of curiosity, both walked toward Logan to ask him if he has any access to the old local news thing because Elena was dying to know what was behind all these. They saw him with their aunt, she really did what she told them earlier this morning. "Elena and Alexandra, right? I think I met you both once when you were nine and eight. You two have grown up very fast and beautiful." Logan said looking at Elena and Alex who was approaching him and Jenna who were having some conversation.

"Jenna's boyfriend?" Alex said acting innocent but was trying to tease her aunt who got closer with Logan.

Logan chuckled and glanced at Jenna for a moment before he replied Alex. "Friends."

"What brings you here, girls?" Jenna said trying to distract the topic about her relationship with Logan. A fake smile appeared on her lips.

"Is he enough in your good graces that we can ask him for a favor?" Elena gestured to Logan while asking her aunt that she wanted a favor. And he was someone who exactly can help them in this case.

"If I do them a favor, will I get back in your good graces?"

"Uh, a very reluctant maybe to both." Jenna replied.

"Done. Wait, one condition. Dinner, tonight, your house." He said making a deal that if he do the sisters a favor, he would get a payback by Jenna herself.

"Fine. But you're eating leftovers." Jenna said.

"Ooh." He said feeling disappointed because he wanted good meals for dinner later, but he would wait for it. After that, he turned to the sisters and ready to do a favor for them. "What do you need?"

"Do you have access to old news stories, say, fifties?" Elena finally asked straightforward while giving her sister a glare as they were only one step ahead to discover the truth and the fact Tiki's grandpa was saying earlier.

"Yeah, at the station." Logan said to them. "Between archives and the internet. We pretty much have everything. What are you going to do with the old news?"

"Oh. Elena and I are working on a task related to the local history but with different topics." Alex stated and trying to convince him that they needed it for school works, playing around with their best. "We can't fail it. So I hope you can help us with it?"

"Heading there now. Let's go." Logan said to the sisters.

Elena said to her aunt as Jenna nodded. "And Jenna, if anyone asks, you don't know where we went because we don't want Caroline to know that we both left. Okay?"

* * *

When they finally arrived to the station, Logan took both Alex and Elena to archives room where they had everything in files from the fifties and so onwards. "We digitized all our archives last year. You can pull all the remote footage right up on screen. What is it exactly you're looking for?" Logan explained carefully and then asked to them in the end.

"An incident from 1953." Elena said answering his question.

Alex also added. "Only if it even happened at that old creepy Salvatore Boarding House."

"Sorry. One second." He said to the sisters as he picked up his phone which rang just a while ago. "Yeah? Fire? Alright, be right there."

"I gotta go." He decided to leave as he got a call. "You believe there's actual news to cover in this town? Alright then, use keywords to search the database. It's pretty easy to navigate and Brady down in tech will help you out with anything else you need."

Elena and Alex both nodded to his explanation.

"Okay, thank you, Logan." Elena said.

"Alright?" Logan said to the sisters as he was doing the favor without feeling hesitant or anything bad. "Oh. Hey, could you put in a good word for me with Jenna?"

Alex winked when she heard of his request. "You got it. Sure will!"

"Alright. Good luck." He said before leaving them both in the archive room to find what they needed.

"You shouldn't have been here. This is my case," Elena said commenting about her younger sister who got involved into all these problems.

"How can I calm down and have fun when I know my sister is dating a possibly freaking handsome paedophile?" Alex replied in rush as she waited for truth to show up while seeing her sister getting into the archives in the computer. She was quite worried yet curious.

"He is not paedophile. It was too long for a human to live. It's just not possible, I have to figure this out." Elena said in reply as she clicked on the computer trying to look for videos of the news while Alex was busy looking at some articles and some pictures to help.

"This is Franklin Fell reporting to you from the Salvatore Boarding House, where a brutal animal attack has ended in tragedy. Okay, they are bringing out the bodies. See if you can get closer. Is that the nephew?" Franklin Fell said as the camera zoomed to show someone was standing in front of the house. Elena and Alex were surprised when they saw Stefan who was standing. It was really him.

"Oh my god. Isn't that Stefan?" Alex commented. She was very shocked to see him on the video which was taken in 1953 which was long time ago.

"I told you. So Tiki's grandfather was right..." Elena stated and finally can prove that she wasn't exactly crazy, at least her sister knew this as well.

"Yeah. But what the hell? 1953. I mean, he might be over 60 years old right now. With a very young face." She was almost freaked out but she was good on controlling her breath right now unlike the other days earlier.

"I'm wondering about this as well, Lex. What am I supposed to do?" Elena questioned while freaking out even more than her younger sister, because it was her boyfriend.

"I don't know, Elena. If Stefan was born a long time ago then he must be like an immortal creature. But I can never be sure if he was really one of it because he might be different." She replied to her older sister about Stefan and sunk back to her seat as she breathed out.

"Immortal?" Elena frowned. "I don't know what to do either, Al, because I feel dead already."

"Um─" Alex was about to reply her but distracted when her phone rang. It was her brother, Jeremy. She wonder what made him call her because he would never call her unless it was quite important. "Hey, Jer, I'm busy right now─"

"_Can you just come home please?_"

"Yeah?" She frowned as she heard her brother asked her to come home.

"_Okay. Great,_"

"But why are you calling me and telling me to come home? Is everything okay?" She asked as she got the bad feeling about her twin brother and she needed to know why.

"_Just go home. I need to talk, you are my twin and you will understand me better._"

Jeremy hung up leaving her curious.

"What? Is there something wrong again with him?" Elena said looking at her sister in hopes that she would tell her that their brother was fine.

"Twin matters. I need to go home now, are you coming?" Alex told her while putting her phone back into her pocket although she saw messages from Tyler coming up.

"Oh." Elena said understanding about those twin things. "And yeah I'm coming along."

* * *

Elena went upstairs first to her room while her younger sister was in the kitchen area, getting a freshwater from the refrigerator. She was going upstairs later to talk with her twin, since he called her to come back home earlier. After drinking the freshwater and waved to her aunt, she walked upstairs only to see Logan was walking out from Jeremy's room. Jeremy was there too but from another direction. It seemed like he was from the bathroom.

"What are you doing here?" Both Jeremy and Alex asked as they saw Logan coming from Jeremy's room.

Logan made an excuse. "Oh, hey, twins. Just looking for the bathroom."

Jeremy jerked his thumb to the bathroom as he glared at how strange Logan behaved.

"So it's right there. Okay. Thank you, man." Logan said.

Alex smiled politely while still watching Logan walking toward the bathroom direction, before she pushed her brother to his room gently. "Hey, is everything okay?" She concerned while looking into his eyes and patted his shoulder. He looked very worried and sad about something. "Did Vicki hurt you? Tyler?"

"No. It's about Vicki. I think you're right." Jeremy admitted in the end while looking at her with sad expression. His arms were crossed. "About her only using me. I think she loves Tyler more and uses me as an escape for her."

Alex rubbed his arm while listening to him, knowing he was feeling sad and down right now. Instead of flaming him about his relationship with Vicki, she was comforting him and gave him full supports that he would get through this. Because he was even there when she was at her worst, when she was drunk because of Tyler.

"I know I'm right. You should have listen to me before you get hurt. But it's alright, Jer. Lesson learned, you should give it a space between you and her." Alex adviced while smiling to him and still rubbing his arm to comfort him. She loved her twin brother a lot, they've been through almost everything together. "Now everything is going to be okay. You give her some space and find another interesting thing to do."

Jeremy looked at her and tried taking her advices into his head, but a part of him keep telling him not to let go of Vicki since he loved her. He wasn't sure which one to chose, but he was going to reconsider both. He smiled "fake smile" to her and nodded lightly indicating that he understood. Alex once again smiled.

"I'll stay in your room for a few hours. Any cool things to do?"

Alex threw herself to the bed and creased her brows signaling him to give her something to do as she accompanied him for the rest of the day, trying to make him feel at least a little bit better. Jeremy took the challenge as he went to his desk and played a song and threw books to the bed. "Do me a favor, do my homeworks. Please!"

"NO WAY!" She snapped giving him a scowl before moving on from the bed and sat on his desk. "Do it yourself you lazy ass. I'm just gonna look at your computer. No ands, buts or ifs."

Jeremy held his hands up and rolled his eyes as he jumped onto his bed, started opening the books and did nothing but only viewed them and then closed it again. "Come on, this isn't fun!" He complained.

"Like it or not, you should try being a better student for your own good. You idiot." She mocked as she tried playing other song which was her favorite and then went to his lamp desk where things were being not-neatly tidied in one on it. She noticed some drugs were there, and some appeared on the table as if he was smashing the pills he usually take. "What the hell is this, Jeremy?"

"What?" Jeremy got up from his bed and grabbed his books to put it back on his desk reluctantly, seeing his twin was now standing near a table where Vicki was smashing pills with an antique crystal he owned.

"Pills? Smashing pills?" She said getting empty pill bottle from the table and showed it to him upsetly. "What is this? You said you're not gonna deal with it anymore?"

"Hey, I can explain." He told her. "Vicki was there smashing the pills when I brought her home but it's for her. I don't deal anymore."

"You sure?" Alex asked him to make sure.

"I'm sure."

"Okay." She said nodding while walking to the door ready to leave the room.

"Where are you going? You said you'll stay." He protested.

Alex sighed. "Elena is having this problem with her boyfriend and I want to see her. Comfort her. Seriously, I'm babysitting both of you though I'm the youngest one."

"Well then, if you have time, would you come over again to my room?" Jeremy chuckled while watching her opening the door and slowly walking outside.

"Yeah. Sure." Alex smiled.

"Bye, babysitter."

"You shut up. I'm not going back to your room if you mock me like that." She shouted while closing the door as she walked to Elena's room which was empty the second she opened the door. "El? Elena?"

No sign of her at all.

Meanwhile in Salvatore Boarding House, Stefan was getting ready. He was angry that his brother killed his nephew and escaped from the cellar. He was going to hunt his brother with this stake on his hand. But when he opened the door, he saw Elena with angry and terrified expression.

"_What_ are you?" Elena asked, shaking, giving him a scowl to let him know how furious she was but also showed how much she was scared right now.

Stefan was panicked.

* * *

**A/N**: Hello lovelies. Sorry I haven't update lately because I'm busy but I hope you guys were looking forward for this chap since I have worked hard on descriptions and add-ins. I'm really hoping you guys like it!

Please let me know if you like the chapter. I want to know what is on your minds while reading this chapter. Every reviews encouraged me a lot on writing more and continuing the story. So thank you if you leave reviews!

Special thanks to **Saffy2510**, **Guest ****_2x_**, **Gabby**, **Forever Fanfiction Lover22**, **Chuya1** and **Shianne Billing** for the reviews on chapter four and one. It is very loved! I also thank you for following/favorite my story because it means a lot to me.

Thank you **Slinky190** because you're willing to brainstorm and share ideas with me. I'm really thankful. Hope to see you in my inbox again anytime soon!

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**PS**, here is Alex's school outfit at the beginning of this chapter (delete all the spaces):  
media - cache - ec0 pinimg 736x / d1 / d7 / 09 / d1d709163341eceb497a772fd04fcb00 . jpg

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_Review_, lovelies.

**Carla x**


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